By Patrick Avenell
JB Hi-Fi has expanded its digital content offering to now include books. Launched today (Monday 22 April 2013), JB NOW Books offers eBooks for iOS and Android devices, plus some other eReaders and personal computers, but not for Kindles.
“JB Hi-Fi NOW Books is your one stop shop for all your eBook needs!” said a company statement. “Once you have registered with JB Hi-Fi NOW you can purchase, store and download eBooks from our ever growing catalogue of new releases, bestsellers, classics and award winning titles — some eBooks are even free!”
To register with JB Hi-Fi NOW, users need to set up a free account using their mobile phone number. For music streaming, customers then choose the subscription platform to best meet their needs. For Books, users need to have an Adobe Digital Editions ID, which is available for free.
“You will be able to read any eBook purchased on our site on a number of computers, tablets, dedicated eReading devices and smartphones that support Adobe DRM,” continued the spokesperson. “You cannot currently read eBooks sold on JB Hi-Fi NOW Books on your Amazon Kindle devices as Kindles do not support Adobe DRM.”
Books available at JB NOW include the Song of Ice and Fire series (JRR Martin), Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte), The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien) and The Bible (various).
Unavailable books include The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Chbosky), Atlas Shrugged (Rand) and the Harry Potter series (JK Rowling).
JB Hi-Fi has been actively diversifying its product and marketing strategy since the price erosion in consumer electronics categories, especially TV, began to bite into the sales revenue all retailers in this space. In addition to launching its NOW platform, JB has rebranded its Clive Anthonys stores to JB Home and begun focusing on appliance sales and introduced musical instruments to its product range.