US retailer bans Amazon Kindle sales in protest over window shoppers While it may be suggested that Amazon cannot be blamed for the choice of a customer, the online company is doing little to stem the practice, indeed it has been accused of encouraging it. At Christmas, Amazon offered five per cent discount to anyone who used their Price Check app to scan the bar code of an item in a shop and then bought it from the website. In what appears to be a belated retaliatory act, Target, which employs nearly approximately 350,000 people, will now phase out the Kindle from all of its near 1,800 shops with the product expected to be completely removed by the end of May. The e-reader has already been removed from its online store. A spokesman for the company confirmed that Target would continue to stock other brands of e-reader. Target continually evaluates its product assortment to deliver the best quality and prices for our guests. Target is phasing out Kindles and Amazon- and Kindle-branded products in the spring of 2012. We will continue to offer our guests a full assortment of e-readers and supporting accessories," a statement released by Target said. Amazon have made no comment. Online commentators have suggested that the move could also be linked to a growing tie between Apple and Target. The store has Apple-branded areas in many of its stores. The Kindle was launched in 2007 and has gone on to become the world's bestselling e-reader, revolutionising the way many people enjoy books. It was sold only online until Target began stocking the Kindle in 2010. Since then other large US retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy and Staples have stocked the Kindle. Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer, has previously drawn criticism from observers including Republican Senator Olympia Snowe and the American Booksellers Association over its sales strategies. Mrs Snowe said in December that Amazon should stop offering shoppers discounts to scan in products with their smartphones at retail stores and compare prices to its own site.