TOKYO, November 15, 2012 - Kobo Inc., a subsidiary of Rakuten, Inc., and TOP CULTURE Co., Ltd., which operates 75 stores including TSUTAYA bookstores, concluded an agreement for the sale of the eReaders kobo Touch and kobo Glo and announced that sales will begin on November 16.
TOP CULTURE is the biggest franchisee of Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. (TSUTAYA). The TSUTAYA bookstores operated by the company are large-scale comprehensive stores that sell mainly books and products such as CDs, DVDs, stationery, household goods; as well as provide CD and DVD rental services. The company is currently working on the creation of large stores with over 5,000 square meters of floor space. With the start of eReader sales, the company hopes to meet the needs of a wide range of customers by offering a new way to enjoy reading.
For its part, Kobo has so far been selling eReaders through the Internet shopping mall Rakuten Ichiba as well as major electronics retail stores. This will be the first time in Japan for the kobo series to be sold on a large scale through a bookstore. This will create a new avenue for the company to advertise its eReaders to potential customers. It will furthermore allow people to try out an eReader right on the spot in each store, leading to further purchases of eReaders among customers with a high interest in reading.
Sales of Kobo Touch and Kobo Glo will start in nine TSUTAYA stores, including the newly opened Hitachinaka Store (Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Store floor space: 6,000 square meters), and the FOLEO Shobu Store (Kuki City, Saitama Prefecture. Store floor space: 7,500 square meters) that boasts the largest floor space and inventory of any TSUTAYA in Japan. Sales will eventually be expanded to 75 stores throughout Japan.
Kobo and TOP CULTURE will continue efforts for the greater satisfaction of customers, working to ensure that anyone can achieve a convenient and fulfilling reading life.
The details of this deal are as follows.