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Bookstores profit off online price wars
Piles of new books
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KAI RYSSDAL: The war over book prices between the big online retailers has taken a new turn. Amazon, Walmart.com, and Target.com are trying to outprice each other on the latest hits. A book that might cost you $25 in an actual bookstore will cost you right around $9 on those sites. Independent booksellers were none too happy about that. But Marketplace's Jeremy Hobson reports they've managed to put the megastores on the defensive.
Jeremy Hobson: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's the MO for some independent booksellers. They've discovered they can get a better price at Amazon or Walmart than they can from their regular distributors. So they buy online and then just turn around and sell the books in their stores.
Gillette Kempf: I go to Amazon when they're offering over 40 percent discount on an item.
Gillette Kempf runs Borealis Bookstore in Wadena, Minn. To combat what she and other booksellers are doing, Amazon, Target and Wal-Mart are putting limits on how many copies of a book can be bought.
But publishing analyst Michael Norris at Simba Information says it's the big chains that are causing the problem in the first place.
Michael Norris: Non-bookstore retailers can sell books at a loss, and they can sell books for less than the price they paid, because they usually like to treat them as loss leaders.
Meaning they sell them at a loss hoping customers will be drawn in to buy other things.
Norris: The problem is that they're carrying these books and they have no stake in the future of printed books.
Still, Gillette Kempf at the bookstore in Wadena isn't worried she'll be run out of business. She says no online algorithm can provide the kind of customer service that she does.
In New York, I'm Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.
About the author
Jeremy Hobson is host of Marketplace Morning Report, where he looks at business news from a global perspective to prepare listeners for the day ahead. Follow Jeremy on Twitter @jeremyhobson
The "little guy" in this article is someone trying to make a profit with their specialty business. The "man" you refer to would be someone that is not even attempting to get a profit off that specialty item. They are taking advantage of select new books coming out over the next few weeks to entice people to shop at their "mega" location rather then the specialty store. Seems reasonable that booksellers would be upset. It's one thing to compete for profit, its another thing ignore the practice entirely. The "megas" can do that, since they have plenty of other things they can sell.
Most "mom and pop" corner stores (regardless of what they sell) have been doing such practices for years, I'm sure they're happy being exposed. Many consumers don't get the practice being pulled right under their nose, they just like supporting "da little guy, vs tha man!).
You have to admit tho, it's sorta funny how the little guy store owners bad-mouth the biggies, but then turn around and buy some of their stock and office supplies from the megas.
