Kobo is one of the best alternatives to the Kindle platform when it comes to ebooks and dedicated ereaders, but sometimes it seems like Kobo is asleep at the wheel.
Not only does Kobo not offer a device that’s comparable to the Kindle Paperwhite (the most popular ereader model of all time) to entice would-be Amazon defectors, they can’t even properly advertise the models they currently sell.
Right up near the top of the homepage on Kobo’s website there’s a section that shows Kobo ereaders and accessories, but three of the six models shown aren’t available to purchase anymore because they’ve been phased out.
It’s been almost a year since the Libra 2 and Clara 2E were discontinued in favor of the Libra Colour and new Clara models, but yet Kobo continues to advertise them on their homepage despite the fact they aren’t available to purchase new anywhere, and haven’t been for a long time.
If you scroll through the list there are a bunch of other discontinued products as well. In fact, they’re still advertising a sleepcover for the Kobo Libra H2O, a model that was replaced by the Libra 2 in 2021. They haven’t sold those in years, and it’s not in stock now anyway, so why is it even on the list?
With Amazon continually finding new ways to anger Kindle customers and pushing them away to other platforms, you’d think Kobo would be doing more to win over former Kindle users that are looking for a more open, customer-friendly alternative, but Kobo just keeps doing what Kobo always does—nothing.
Someone suggested that Kobo should offer a trade-in program where people could get a discount on a Kobo ereader by trading in a Kindle. I thought was a great idea, but it will never happen. Kobo has never even offered trade-in discounts for their own models.
The best Kobo can offer is their typical $20 off sale on models they just increased the price on by $10, so even their sale prices are hard to get excited about.
Kobo appears to be content with the market share they currently hold. They seemingly put no effort into acquiring new customers, they don’t advertise the fact that their devices support Adobe DRM anywhere on the product pages, and they can’t even be bothered to update their website once a year to reflect their current lineup of ereaders. I just don’t get it.
It’s because those models are still occasionally available as certified refurbished.
https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/certified-refurbished-ereaders?utm_source=Kobo&utm_medium=TopNavTest&utm_campaign=Refurb
The refurbished models all have their own separate listings so if someone clicked through on any of the homepage links they still wouldn’t know that they are available as refurbished because all those pages just say sold out and they don’t redirect to the refurbished listings.
The main reason companies do this is to exhaust the supply of discontinued items. While deceptive, it is smart.
I always thought Kobo advertising discontinued models on their homepage was strange, and thus I appreciate your post confirming that I am not the only one who feels this way. If Ford continued to advertise the Fusion on their homepage, the responsible person would likely be canned.
Well, that’s not the case on Kobo’s Canadian store.
This is actually really confusing for their prospective customers. My in-laws are interesting in buying an e-reader, they have browsed the Kobo’s website and they are now convinced that Kobo has like 10 models for them to choose from.
It seems like Kobo doesn’t update the ereader side of its side very often.
In Kobo’s US store under Where To Buy it only lists Blue Proton and Walmart (in addition to Kobo.com), but in the US you can also buy them at Target and Amazon. I would think they’d want new customers to know that.
It’s also odd the actual battery capacity of some models isn’t listed and only “lasts for weeks” is the only description.
I live in a US northern tier state and on every us.kobobooks.com page there’s a pop-up saying “It looks like you are visiting us from Canada. Would you like to go to our Canada store?” Uh, no Kobo, I have a US IP address and that’s why I’m on the US site.
Blue Proton is Kobo’s lone US reseller now. They’re the ones selling on Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Walmart isn’t actually a partner anymore so they’re no longer shipped and sold by Walmart. It’s Blue Proton everywhere, and that’s probably why they’re regularly charging above MSRP now that they don’t have any other competition.
Update: Actually it looks like Kobo just launched their own store on Amazon. It’s about time. Hopefully that’ll stop the price gouging from Blue Proton.
I’m not seeing the Blue Proton price gouging you’ve mentioned. The Libra Colour, Clara BW and Sage, for example, are the same price on both Kobo’s US store and BlueProton.com, $229.99, $139.99 and $269.99, respectively. The Clara Colour is $10 less ($149.99) on Blue Proton’s site than on Kobo’s.
Maybe you could be more specific about where you’re seeing the “price gouging.”
I’ve had excellent buying and customer service experience ordering from Blue Proton directly.
Blue Proton has been selling Kobo’s devices for $10+ above retail off and on for the past year. They don’t always do it so you probably just didn’t notice it (right now they’re selling the Libra 2 for $209 refurbished when it sold for $189 new; Kobo sells it for $159 when refurbs are in stock). The funny thing is Blue Proton is suddenly out of stock on just about every Kobo model now. I wonder if Kobo is going to stop using them now that they’ve launched their own Amazon store.