( CNN ) -- The latest chapter in British retail has grocery giant Tesco betting on e-books : it 's buying Mobcast , a company that brings books to wireless devices . The deal , worth about $ 7.15 million ( Â£4.5 million ) , is small for Tesco , which is one of the biggest food retailers in the world . But it 's still significant : it marks the next page in Britain 's digital transformation . When he co-founded Mobcast five years ago , Tony Lynch , the company 's CEO , says books were n't represented on wireless devices beyond offerings from online retailer Amazon.com . `` It was a very valuable hole in the market , '' he says . Now , with Mobcast 's more than 100,000 titles and counting , Tesco will allow consumers to buy and read books on an array of devices , from smartphones to e-readers . And it also marks another avenue for the retailer to find out more about its customers - information Tesco can use to fine tune its targeted ads and , ultimately , sell more products . `` Arguably , Tesco has the best data in the world on its customers , '' says Michael Comish , CEO of Tesco Digital Entertainment . He points to a robust retail loyalty program that helps the company keep track of customers ' shopping habits . `` They ( Tesco ) have extensive data about purchase behavior and information about the customers . '' Experts say that expanding its digital portfolio will allow Tesco to enhance that consumer data for years to come . `` Getting into the electronic purchase cycle of a family , whether it 's for books or something else , gets you in much more regular touch with them than if they were just buying a physical product , '' says Sree Sreenivasan , Chief Digital Officer of Columbia University . `` This makes sense to have a whole digital portfolio . '' Comish came to Tesco by way of Blinkbox , another digital player in the Tesco empire . The retailer bought the video-on-demand provider last year . `` Part of Tesco 's strategy is to acquire talent , '' he says . Tesco also bought the Internet radio service radio service WE7 earlier this year .
British grocery giant Tesco is buying Mobcast e - books company for $ 7.15 million . Tesco will allow consumers to download and read books on an array of devices . Digital : Expanding digital capabilities will allow Tesco to enhance its consumer experience .