NEW YORK – Walmart is planning to sell e-books and audiobooks, its latest effort to encroach on an area of Amazon strength.
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The nation’s largest retailer said Thursday it has struck a deal to use Tokyo-based Rakuten Inc.’s e-reading service called Kobo to sell e-books and audio books as well as offer e-readers in Walmart stores and online in the U.S. later this year.
The content will be accessible through a Walmart-Kobo app on both Apple and Android devices. Kobo offers nearly 6 million titles from thousands of publishers.
As part of its alliance with Rakuten, which is Japan’s largest e-commerce company, Walmart will also launch a new online grocery delivery service in that country, starting in the third quarter.
