Amazon used to put Kindles on sale all the time. Every couple of months, at least, and every major holiday.
But this past year it seems like Kindles have gone on sale much less frequently than they used to, especially when it comes to regular sales for non-Prime members.
The last couple of Kindle sales have been exclusively for Amazon Prime members.
The last time Amazon put Kindles on sale for non-Prime members was the first week of June.
They were on sale the previous month as well for Mother’s Day, but since then there have only been a couple of Prime exclusive sales on the newer Kindles.
Amazon has had older Kindles on sale, like the Kindle Oasis 2 for $50 off, and they’ve had some sales on refurbished Kindles like the Paperwhite 3 for $79, but new Kindles haven’t been gone on sale very often in 2019.
They’ve started doing more quasi-deals like getting 10% off when buying two Kindles, but that’s hardly a “deal” compared to usual Kindle sales when they are $40 off.
It started last fall when Amazon didn’t put the entry-level Kindle on sale for Black Friday and throughout the holiday shopping season. In previous years it had gone on sale too, but last year it did not.
What’s the deal with the lack of Kindle sales lately, especially for non-Prime members?
I’m thinking it might be that all the devices are all the current generation. Is it normal to put new devices on sale?
They used to put the Paperwhite and entry-level models on sale all the time, to the point where it didn’t make sense to pay full price when you could just wait a few weeks for another sale. Over 4 months without a sale for non-Prime members is highly unusual.
It’s quite simple, I think. Lack of competition. There is real competitor in German speaking market – it’s Tolino alliance. So, there was a sale one month ago for instance: http://cyfranek.booklikes.com/post/1949036/kindle-paperwhite-4-taniej-o-30-eur-z-okazji-powrotu-do-szkoly
I wonder if the pattern we’re seeing is not fewer sales on Kindles but a shift to a focus on Prime member sales.
Barry