4 ms·

I don't even think Amazon wins on cost. It also wins on convenience and completeness. If I need to find a book or research on a subject, I'm not going to peruse

I don't even think Amazon wins on cost. It also wins on convenience and completeness. If I need to find a book or research on a subject, I'm not going to peruse a local book store, I'm going to use a Library Catalog, Amazon Search, or Google Search, from the convenience of my phone or desktop. Local book stores being the same price, or even cheaper, isn't likely to influence my initial tendency to preview on the Web first, and if I search for my book and preview on the Web, I'm much more likely to buy it there too. IMHO, France is only forestalling the inevitable, and eventually local book shops value won't be in selling books, but in providing a hangout place to discuss things, to have book tour speakers in person, to serve hipster coffee and snacks, etc. But as a pure book retail warehouse? I think think this is dead in the long term.

pessimizer 5y ago
You'll get better prices if you look off amazon at one of the used book metasearch engines, like used.addall.com. You're also far more likely to end up ordering from a small, local store. To save on postage, you might order from one near you (or even pick up the book.) Well that last one will only happen in France, after this. In the US you go to Amazon for the free postage. And since so many people go to Amazon for the free postage, they can somehow charge a higher price without postage than indie booksellers including postage. It's a brand premium, not a convenience or cost premium. Too many people have the habit of checking Amazon first.
makeitdouble 5y ago
For what it's worth, obscure books will come from small sellers that won't rely on Amazon's warehouses. In these cases, Amazon acts as a real marketplace where a seller just gets a storefront to access their customers: shipping will often be done manually, the customer paying the real cost etc. As an Amazon user, I really like that arrangement, where Amazon does what it is best at (cart handling), and small independent players get to reach a wide audience. BTW this law has almost nothing to do with that, it will mainly affect best sellers from big publishers that set regulated prices (legal max discount is 5%, under conditions). Up until now online shop were flying under the radar as it seems, but regulator are catching up.
LatteLazy 5y ago
Before Amazon, I had to travel all the way to London to get a decent book store. Even then I was lucky if they had 100 books on physics total. God forbid you want a choice of more than 1 tomb on semiconductors. Now the world is my oyster. But people are desperate to save the local Waterstones that stocks nothing but sports biographies and celeb cooking books...
mdp2021 5y ago
> eventually local book shops value won't be in selling books You seem to forget about the public that wants (demands) a book retail warehouse. The median shopper does not exhaust the market.
- cromwellian 5y ago
  > You seem to forget about the public that wants (demands) a book retail warehouse. The median shopper does not exhaust the market. But do they demand a brick and mortar physical book retail warehouse that they have to commute to? I mean if I were to say "Gamers demand a brick-and-mortar retail 'app store' like Gamestop" you'd think it was absurd. Of course people want to just download games from app stores and not have to physically go to a store to get games. The vast majority of the public doesn't go to libraries and doesn't want a big box bookstore. It's why Borders and Barnes-n-Nobles failed. In most of the bookstores I've been to, their value has been communal, as a place to hang out, chill with your laptop, study for school, or meet authors or speakers, but they've never been about the need to shop, because inherently their selection is inferior and their convenience low.
  - mdp2021 5y ago
    > But do they demand a brick and mortar physical book retail warehouse that they have to commute to? Yes, absolutely so. Correctly. The physical collection offers qualities that cannot be found otherwise; the direct contact is one, the browsing the mass of material is another, the environment (when properly created) another. We will reach to the other side of the world occasionally, and travel hundreds of miles normally. It is very different from obtaining computer code, and in some ways more similar to purchasing cloth (which pretty much requires contact, properly and irregardless of custom). > The vast majority of the public doesn't go to libraries Just for this, first of all, there is a problem. You cannot drop a bit like "the vast majority don't wash" like an idle remark about the weather in front of a tsunami. And to the point, in fact I was referring to «the public that wants (demands) a book retail warehouse». Those who are properly interested in the matter, not the casual user.

pessimizer 5y ago

You'll get better prices if you look off amazon at one of the used book metasearch engines, like used.addall.com. You're also far more likely to end up ordering from a small, local store. To save on postage, you might order from one near you (or even pick up the book.) Well that last one will only happen in France, after this. In the US you go to Amazon for the free postage. And since so many people go to Amazon for the free postage, they can somehow charge a higher price without postage than indie booksellers including postage. It's a brand premium, not a convenience or cost premium. Too many people have the habit of checking Amazon first.

makeitdouble 5y ago

For what it's worth, obscure books will come from small sellers that won't rely on Amazon's warehouses. In these cases, Amazon acts as a real marketplace where a seller just gets a storefront to access their customers: shipping will often be done manually, the customer paying the real cost etc. As an Amazon user, I really like that arrangement, where Amazon does what it is best at (cart handling), and small independent players get to reach a wide audience. BTW this law has almost nothing to do with that, it will mainly affect best sellers from big publishers that set regulated prices (legal max discount is 5%, under conditions). Up until now online shop were flying under the radar as it seems, but regulator are catching up.

LatteLazy 5y ago

Before Amazon, I had to travel all the way to London to get a decent book store. Even then I was lucky if they had 100 books on physics total. God forbid you want a choice of more than 1 tomb on semiconductors. Now the world is my oyster. But people are desperate to save the local Waterstones that stocks nothing but sports biographies and celeb cooking books...

mdp2021 5y ago

> eventually local book shops value won't be in selling books You seem to forget about the public that wants (demands) a book retail warehouse. The median shopper does not exhaust the market.

cromwellian 5y ago
> You seem to forget about the public that wants (demands) a book retail warehouse. The median shopper does not exhaust the market. But do they demand a brick and mortar physical book retail warehouse that they have to commute to? I mean if I were to say "Gamers demand a brick-and-mortar retail 'app store' like Gamestop" you'd think it was absurd. Of course people want to just download games from app stores and not have to physically go to a store to get games. The vast majority of the public doesn't go to libraries and doesn't want a big box bookstore. It's why Borders and Barnes-n-Nobles failed. In most of the bookstores I've been to, their value has been communal, as a place to hang out, chill with your laptop, study for school, or meet authors or speakers, but they've never been about the need to shop, because inherently their selection is inferior and their convenience low.
- mdp2021 5y ago
  > But do they demand a brick and mortar physical book retail warehouse that they have to commute to? Yes, absolutely so. Correctly. The physical collection offers qualities that cannot be found otherwise; the direct contact is one, the browsing the mass of material is another, the environment (when properly created) another. We will reach to the other side of the world occasionally, and travel hundreds of miles normally. It is very different from obtaining computer code, and in some ways more similar to purchasing cloth (which pretty much requires contact, properly and irregardless of custom). > The vast majority of the public doesn't go to libraries Just for this, first of all, there is a problem. You cannot drop a bit like "the vast majority don't wash" like an idle remark about the weather in front of a tsunami. And to the point, in fact I was referring to «the public that wants (demands) a book retail warehouse». Those who are properly interested in the matter, not the casual user.