Wal-Mart will cease selling Amazon products, including Kindles, the international retail chain announced Thursday.
"Recently, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. made a business decision to not carry current Amazon products beyond our purchase commitments and existing inventory," a Wal-Mart spokeswoman told TechRadar.
"Our customers trust us to provide a broad assortment of products at everyday low prices, and we approach every merchandising decision through this lens."
In an internal memo sent to store managers Wednesday, the store said the cessation of sales would affect Amazon tablets and eReaders, including "all Amazon Kindle models current and recently announced."
Kindles are competition
According to Wal-Mart, the decision is consistent with the company's merchandising strategy. The company said it will continue to sell products that fall into the Kindle Fire category.
"We will continue to offer our customers a broad assortment of tablets, eReaders and accessories at a variety of great price points," the company spokeswoman said. "This decision is consistent with our overall merchandising strategy."
Wal-Mart dominates the brick-and-mortar retail space, Reuters, which first broke the story, reported. However, it trails online retailers - like Amazon - and faces competition as devices like Amazon's Kindle Fire HD allow users to shop for other products, not just digital books.
Currently, the company, which has a number of subsidiaries including Wal-Mart International and Sam's Club, sells Apple's iPad and the Nook by Barns & Noble.
Target also recently decided to stop carrying the Kindles.
The cessation will impact all Wal-Mart locations in the U.S., online, and internationally, the spokeswoman said.
TechRadar reached out to Amazon for comment and will update this story if and when we receive more information.
From Reuters
