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Amazon gained monopoly power over book distribution before they knew what hit them. Now I'd imagine they are stuck.

by arrosenberg 6y ago

jjtheblunt 6y ago
genuine question : isn't the continued existence of Barnes and Noble a counterexample to monopoly power?
- lenkite 6y ago
  More like the dying existence of Barnes and Noble. They have shut down most of their stores and fired most of their employees. And they are losing online too. Can't compete with Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited. A monopoly in multiple-domains gives holistic, undeniable advantages in kicking any competitor to the curb. Amazon is the Godzilla smashing B&N worker-ant into paste.
- arrosenberg 6y ago
  No. I'm not sure there is anything Barnes and Noble could practically change that would gain them a significant amount of market share from Amazon. The network effects of Kindle, Audible (the unlimited variants of both), and Prime delivery would make it impossible for B&N to really compete in the way a normal American would think about it. The term monopoly power is colloquial doesn't require a market to only contain a single company. It's enough for a single dominant player to have market-setting power in either a region, nationally, or globally.
  - slowmovintarget 6y ago
    On Amazon, I have almost no way to guarantee I'm actually going to get the edition (print, that is) I intended to purchase. Barnes & Noble lets me buy the particular edition. Amazon lumps in rip-off photocopy books with the actual print editions and calls them all "hardcover" or "paperback" with different prices. You get an ISBN for some edition of the book, but not necessarily the one you have selected when you add it to your cart. I've taken to buying more print books from B&N for this reason. (War and Peace, Shogun, Moby-Dick... it's hard to find proper hard cover editions of these books, especially if there's a particular translation you're looking for, like in the case with Tolstoy.) I have this silly hope that the market will begin to swing away from Amazon as consumers attempt to avoid the rampant counterfeiting, and the lack of specificity and control for what you're actually buying. Time will tell.

Amazon gained monopoly power over book distribution before they knew what hit them. Now I'd imagine they are stuck.

jjtheblunt 6y ago

genuine question : isn't the continued existence of Barnes and Noble a counterexample to monopoly power?

lenkite 6y ago
More like the dying existence of Barnes and Noble. They have shut down most of their stores and fired most of their employees. And they are losing online too. Can't compete with Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited. A monopoly in multiple-domains gives holistic, undeniable advantages in kicking any competitor to the curb. Amazon is the Godzilla smashing B&N worker-ant into paste.
arrosenberg 6y ago
No. I'm not sure there is anything Barnes and Noble could practically change that would gain them a significant amount of market share from Amazon. The network effects of Kindle, Audible (the unlimited variants of both), and Prime delivery would make it impossible for B&N to really compete in the way a normal American would think about it. The term monopoly power is colloquial doesn't require a market to only contain a single company. It's enough for a single dominant player to have market-setting power in either a region, nationally, or globally.
- slowmovintarget 6y ago
  On Amazon, I have almost no way to guarantee I'm actually going to get the edition (print, that is) I intended to purchase. Barnes & Noble lets me buy the particular edition. Amazon lumps in rip-off photocopy books with the actual print editions and calls them all "hardcover" or "paperback" with different prices. You get an ISBN for some edition of the book, but not necessarily the one you have selected when you add it to your cart. I've taken to buying more print books from B&N for this reason. (War and Peace, Shogun, Moby-Dick... it's hard to find proper hard cover editions of these books, especially if there's a particular translation you're looking for, like in the case with Tolstoy.) I have this silly hope that the market will begin to swing away from Amazon as consumers attempt to avoid the rampant counterfeiting, and the lack of specificity and control for what you're actually buying. Time will tell.