Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Walmart’s new eBooks store goes head-to-head with Amazon

Christian de Looper
By

It looks like Walmart is ramping up its efforts to take on Amazon. In partnership with Kobo, the company has announced a new ebook store called Walmart eBooks by Rakuten Kobo. The new service brings ebooks to Walmart customers both in-store and online, but perhaps more importantly it represents Walmart’s continued push against the likes of Amazon, which continues to bite chunks out of Walmart’s bottom line.

Thanks to the partnership with Kobo, Walmart eBooks will boast Kobo’s 6-million-title-strong library, as well as access to a $9.99-per-month audiobook subscription (which only gets users one audiobook per month), and more. Of course, customers will also be able to buy Kobo’s e-readers in Walmart stores or on Walmart.com, as well as purchase so-called digital book cards in any of 3,500 Walmart stores. Forty titles will be available at launch.

Recommended Videos

Thankfully, if you want to take advantage of the new service, you don’t have to buy a Kobo ebook reader — customers can also access ebooks through a Walmart eBooks and Kobo co-branded app, which will be available through both iOS and Android.

Related

New customers will get a few perks, too. Those who sign up online will get $10 off their first ebook or audiobook through the service, and those interested in the audiobook subscription will also get a 30-day free trial.

It makes sense that Walmart would launch its ebook effort in conjunction with Kobo, rather than on its own. Kobo already has an established customer base, as well as its own series of e-readers. We’ve reviewed the Kobo Clara HD, one of the company’s flagship ebook readers, and scored it an impressive 4.5 stars out of 5. We also featured the Kobo Aura One as our top ebook reader to buy, thanks largely to its EPUB support and waterproof design. Walmart specifically will be selling the Kobo Aura, a lower-cost version of the Aura One.

In general, we’re likely to see more efforts like this from Walmart — though that doesn’t mean that it’ll help in the company’s push against online retailers. As Walmart mentions in its press release, the company has been building out its offerings through Walmart.com in general, including the launch of new categories like the ebook store.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper
Contributor
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
How to view Instagram without an account
An iPhone 15 Pro Max showing Instagram via a web browser.

Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms on the planet. Whether you want to share a family photo, what you had for lunch at your favorite cafe, or a silly video of your cat, Instagram is the place to do it.

Read more
Something odd is happening with Samsung’s two new budget phones
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy A35 and Galaxy A55.

The Samsung Galaxy A35 (left) and Galaxy A55 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy A55 for almost two weeks and have now swapped my SIM card over to the Samsung Galaxy A35. These are the latest entries in Samsung's budget-minded Galaxy-A series. In all honestly, I can barely tell the difference between them.

Read more
Learn 14 languages: Get $449 off a lifetime subscription to Babbel
A person using the Babbel app on their smartphone.

Learning a new language no longer requires you to make time for formal classes because there are now several language learning apps that you can tap. One of them is Babbel, and you can currently get a lifetime subscription to the online learning platform for only $150 from StackSocial. That's $449 off its original price of $599, but we don't know how much time is remaining before the offer expires. If you want to take advantage of the 74% discount, it's highly recommended that you complete the transaction immediately.

Why you should buy the Babbel lifetime subscription
A lifetime subscription to Babbel not only unlocks the possibility of learning one or two new languages, as the platform encompasses a total of 14 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, Indonesia, Norwegian, Danish, and Russian. You'll be learning your new language of choice with lessons that only take 10 minutes to 15 minutes each to complete, so unlike classes with a rigid schedule, you can learn at your own pace and at any time you're free through Babbel. The lessons cover real-life topics, and they use speech recognition technology to help you master pronunciation. You'll then test yourself through personalized review sessions that will help make sure that you retain all the information that's being taught to you.

Read more