UK bookseller, Waterstones has signed a commercial agreement with Amazon to launch new e-reading services and offer Kindle digital devices through its UK shops. The agreement with Amazon will enable Waterstones to extend first class digital reading to its customers’ in-store. The digital initiatives will build on the UK group’s on-going investment plan to upgrade its 30-year-old retail chain.
James Daunt, Managing Director of Waterstones, said: “At Waterstones, we are committed to improving our bookshops quite radically to offer the best possible book buying experience. It is a truly exciting prospect to harness also the respective strengths of Waterstones and Amazon to provide a dramatically better digital reading experience for our customers.”
“The best digital readers, the Kindle family, will be married to the singular pleasures of browsing a curated bookshop. With the combination of our talents we can offer the exceptional customer proposition to which we both aspire.”
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO, said: “Waterstones is the premier high street bookseller and is passionate about books and readers – a dedication that we share deeply. We could never hope for a better partner to bring together digital reading and the physical bookstore.”