Reunited: Target resumes sales of Amazon's devices after a four-year hiatus

By Williams Pelegrin August 6, 2016

target sales amazon another kindle image — Image used with permission by copyright holder

For the first time in four years, Target is selling Amazon-branded devices on its website and will sell them on store shelves later this year, reports Bloomberg.

The agreement comes as something of a surprise, because Target has refused to sell Amazon’s devices since 2012 over what the former called a “conflict of interest.” Reading between the lines, Target was likely afraid of Amazon using its devices to convert shoppers into Amazon devotees. Furthermore, Target did not like that it was being used as a second storefront, giving Amazon more reach with American consumers.

Things have changed in recent years, however, with Target adopting new business strategies and appointing Brian Cornell as its new CEO, which resulted in a strong financial turnaround. Meanwhile, 19 million people signed up for Amazon Prime in 2015, with the company believed to now have over 54 million Amazon Prime customers. As such, there is less risk of customer conversion when using Amazon devices.

“Target continually evaluates our assortment to deliver quality products at a great value,” said the company in a related statement. “We know our guests love the many aspects of shopping at Target, and believe they will appreciate the convenience and savings of finding these items in our stores and on Target.com.”

Thanks to the reversal, you can now buy Amazon’s Kindles, Fire tablets, and Fire TV devices on Target’s website, with the devices slated to hit store shelves in October.

As Bloomberg notes, however, the change does carry implications for both companies. For Target, selling Amazon’s devices might inject some much-needed energy into its electronics business. As for Amazon, this gives the company another foothold in the physical retail market, since it currently has no store to call its own.

Unfortunately, Target’s decision to work with Amazon has had no effect on Walmart, which still refuses to sell the latter’s devices.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Williams Pelegrin

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…

Smart Home

Everything announced at Amazon’s fall 2023 devices event

The Amazon Echo Show 8 at the Devices Event 2023.

The leaves are starting to turn color, and you know what that means: Amazon's annual fall Devices and Services event is upon us, bringing with it a veritable smorgasbord of product announcements, from new Fire TV streaming gadgets and Echo devices to Amazon smart home gear like Blink and Ring cameras, as well as Eero Wi-Fi routers and Alexa galore.

Taking place Wednesday, September 20, from Amazon's shiny new HQ2 second headquarters in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, the invite-only event was heavy on themes of generative AI and its use in the home, specifically how it relates to its own products. Dave Limp, Amazon's outgoing senior vice president of devices and services, delivered his last keynote, spilling the details on Alexa's most significant AI upgrade yet. Limp revealed its all-new advanced large language model (LLM), which will make the smart assistant more intuitive, conversational, and able to understand more complex nomenclature and nuances. And it's all integrated with Amazon's Alexa devices throughout your smart home.

Audio / Video

Amazon is giving you 6 months of MGM+ when you buy a new Fire TV

Amazon announcing a partnership with MGM.

Amazon is giving six months of free access to MGM+ in conjunction with the purchase of a new Fire TV. The announcement came as part of Amazon's massive annual device event at HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia. And that means low-cost sticks, as well as more expensive televisions running Amazon Fire TV.

Unsurprisingly, Amazon also used the event to announce a new Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, and Fire TV Soundbar. Amazon announced in March 2023 that more than 200 million Fire TV devices had been sold worldwide, and that number is poised to continue growing strongly.

Audio / Video

Roku and Amazon are so close to making subtitles easy to toggle

The Roku Voice Remote Pro, and the Amazon Alexa Voice Remote Pro.

The idea that remote controls should include a dedicated button for captions is not, in and of itself, a bad one. In fact, it makes a whole lot of sense, whether the remote belongs to a television or a peripheral like Roku or Amazon Fire TV. We acknowledge the fact that it would add complexity and, possibly, cost to a device. (And that it's relatively easy to just flip 'em on and off inside apps as it is.) But we believe it would be worth it.

We didn’t pick Roku and Amazon Fire TV out of thin air in that previous paragraph. They are the two biggest streaming platforms in the world. And as it turns out, they both have remote controls with user-programmable buttons. While that’s not quite the same thing as what we're imploring the likes of Roku, Amazon, Google, Apple, and others to employ, it’s something that’s available now. (Though the remotes in question aren’t shipped by default with every device — you’ll have to spend more to get them.)