Online retail giant Amazon is reportedly looking to offer physical book stores the opportunity to sell Kindle e-books, as well as traditional books.
According to reports, Amazon will offer stores Kindle tablets and credit card readers to use in transactions, as well as potential services in web development and data analysis.
This could provide a lifeline to the traditional bookseller who sees the growth of e-book readers as a serious threat to their businesses.
The sources close to the company also stated these are early stage plans of yet but could be rolled out in the near future.
Amazon has already made significant steps into the possibility of selling in actual stores after the company hired engineers from another company called GoPago, who developed technology in the areas of checkout systems through smartphone apps.
Experts in the field of smartphone payments believe this is a necessary step for the company’s future. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Richard Crone, chief executive of Crone Consulting, said: “The game of mobile payments is going to be won or lost at the physical checkout, that’s where nearly all of commerce is done today. At the end of the day, a merchant wants to make a sale, to drive up business. And if Amazon or anyone else can help them do that, that’s tough to turn away.”
The company’s e-book division has continued to flourish and it is by far the largest distributor of e-books.
The year 2013 in particular has been a bumper year for Amazon, with 426 items sold every second in the build-up to Christmas.
