Amazon teams up with its rivals

The programme called Amazon Source allows the retailers to earn a profit on Kindle sales and provides the option of receiving 10 percent of the price of Kindle books purchased on devices sold by the store for the first two years after a customer buys a device.

"We believe that retailers, online or offline, small or large, should be striving to offer customers what they want -- and many customers want to read both digital and print books," said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Amazon Kindle.

"For many years, bookstores have successfully sold print books on Amazon -- now Amazon Source extends this opportunity to digital. With Amazon Source, customers don't have to choose between e-books and their favorite neighborhood bookstore -- they can have both."

The programme is based on one launched with the British retailer Waterstones in 2012.

The move teams brick-and-mortar merchants with Amazon, which has been accused of driving many stores out of business.

Amazon said the first order by retailers would be "worry-free" because it would buy back the inventory for up to six months.