E-Reader Vendor Hanvon to Open 60 Direct Outlets in 2010
Netease Tech, 3/15/10
At the launch of Hanvon's (002362.SZ) first East China flagship store, a spokesperson for the Chinese e-reader maker said that it plans to open 60 directly operated stores around the country this year, focusing mainly on first-tier cities and provincial capitals. A new line of Hanvon e-readers with TD-SCDMA modules for downloading books over the 3G network will go on sale in China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) service centers in early April.
Hanvon's first East China flagship store is located in an electronics mall in the Xujiahui neighborhood of Shanghai. The store is directly operated by Hanvon, and offers usable display products, including its e-readers.
In addition to directly operated stores, Hanvon plans to increase its number of retail partners to 1,000 (from more than 400 at present), in order to more rapidly increase its presence in electronics malls.
Electronics malls account for the majority of Hanvon's sales channels, which also include presence in Xinhua Bookstores and other major bookstores, as well as domestic 3C retailers including Gome (0493.HK) and Suning (002024.SZ), and telecom operators' service centers.
Chen Shaoqiang, GM of Hanvon's resource operations department, said Hanvon would expand its e-book offerings from the current 20,000 titles to 100,000 titles this year.
Chen said that Hanvon hopes for its e-book store (www.hwebook.cn) to play a role similar to that of Chinese B2C and C2C e-commerce site Taobao, forming a bridge between publishers and readers. On HWEbook.cn, Hanvon plans to put publishers in charge of listing titles, setting prices, and managing available titles. Hanvon will offer an 80:20 revenue share for participating publishers.
Keywords: Chen Shaoqiang China Mobile hardware retail e-book 3G Hanvon CHL revenue share TD-SCDMA 0941.HK 002362.SZ e-commerce
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