2 ms·
One thing I can easily see being able to "reverse-showroom" for cheaply is used books. Used copies of "The Martian" are currently $7.44 + $3.99 shipping at Amaz
by parennoob 11y ago
One thing I can easily see being able to "reverse-showroom" for cheaply is used books. Used copies of "The Martian" are currently $7.44 + $3.99 shipping at Amazon, which brings it to more than the $9.00 new price with Prime.
If my local bookshop gets in on the act and pegs used books to, say, even a dollar below the new book price on Amazon and advertises that fact boldly, I (and more importantly, a lot of millenials) would gladly buy from them instead.
- dingaling 11y agoA typical wholesale price as set by a publisher is about 50 to 60% of the RRP for mass-market stuff and 80% for specialised titles. But most bookstores buy their stock from middle-man distributors on a returnable basis. That's a couple of clicks of about 10 to 15% each on top of the wholesale price, plus the store has to add their operating costs and margin onto that. So discounting is very difficult for a small shop. Compared to Amazon which buys huge volume directly from publishers on a non-returnable basis and can park slow-selling stock in warehouses for years at a very low per-item cost.