Seattle Bookstores Embrace Amazon.com 83
An anonymous reader writes "Even though many independent bookstores around the country blame their closing on competition from Amazon.com, bookstores in Seattle are booming thanks to Amazon's growth. It turns out many of the thousands of new workers at their downtown headquarters are avid readers who prefer shopping at the local stores. '"A lot of our customers work at Amazon," said Tracy Taylor, the general manager at the Elliott Bay Book Company, one of the city's largest independent booksellers. The store, about a mile from Amazon headquarters, last year earned what Ms. Taylor called the "first substantial profit" in almost 20 years, enough to even pay employee bonuses.'"
Re:I prefer to browse real bookstores (Score:5, Interesting)
After you browsed through the real bookstores, where did you buy them?
I prefer to browse the local library. (Score:4, Interesting)
I tend to browse the local library rather than the bookstore. My local library even
has a coffee shop inside now. So I can browse at the library and if I decide I later
want to own the book, I buy it at amazon. I tend to only use the local bookstore
anymore for buying gifts.
Wrong. Amazon profit from abuse of min. wage cont. (Score:2, Interesting)
Amazon only is profitable by lying claiming the people in Amazon warehouses filling Amazon orders in all those Amazon boxes aren't amazon employees.
Re:Big company moves into town, sales soar... (Score:4, Interesting)
Whether it's Amazon or not is irrelevant. In any large company, there's going to be a percentage who like the dead tree copies of the book. Got to a restaurant when the staff are on a break, you'll find some folks eating Mackers/KFC/their own sandwiches.
This. The greater the population, the more people will wander into your store - even if it is just to get out of the rain. Sudden showers also drive traffic to your store. Is rainfall your new ally?
OTOH, I find it silly that people talk about Amazon being the enemy of your company. The true enemy of your organization was that you were relying on physical constraints to force customers to your store due to a lack of choice - especially now that Amazon is charging tax in many states. If you provide a service to your customers that Amazon cannot duplicate (being non-physical) then there will be a sizeable segment of the population that will flock to you. I visit my public library and stores because they offer a benefit that Starbucks and BitTorrent do not - a special of the day, an illusion (and sometimes real) friendliness, and an update on local events that I don't get from a vending machine. If you claim Starbucks is driving you out of business, you would have gone out of business by a bunch of vending machines.
Yes, amazon can run at a loss much longer than my local bookstore owner can - which is why she is friendly, holds book reading events, and takes an effort to ensure her customers leave the store happy. She doesn't compete with Amazon on price - she does it on service. When my Kindle DX malfunctioned long after the warranty expired, Amazon customer service replaced it without hesitation. Best Buy would charge me a restocking fee if I changed my mind five seconds after I paid.
Bookstores - are you trying to change hard enough? (Score:3, Interesting)
But, assuming many other people have a similar story, what continues to surprise me is how little or how poorly bookstores seem to have adapted to this. If I were a bookstore owner I would try one of these things, none of which I have seen evidence of any bookstores here trying in a meaningful or impactful way:
1. Aggressively analyze traffic and tweak the assortment continuously
2. Track what I read, suggest books, inform me when they get related stuff in-store
3. If they don't have a book I want, promise to send it home the next day or later the same day
4. Reward my loyalty and value to them meaningfully. By that I mean that if I'm the kind of guy who buys regularly and from a predictable set then invest a significant portion of their margins on my purchases back into growing their relationship with me
5. Start 'membership programs' that help me get control over my spend on books
6. Make bookstores a really pleasant place for me and my family to spend time in
8. Support the physical book ecosystem.. start a program to take back books and free up precious shelf space in my home
9. Specialize.. trying to keep all the books relevant to everyone is a recipe for disaster imho, will end up keeping a bare minimum in any area and leave everyone dissatisfied
To folks in the bookstore business and slashdotters in other countries (I'm in India) - Do you feel nearly enough is being done?
Re:Bookstores - are you trying to change hard enou (Score:5, Interesting)
It doesn't work largely because it's very difficult for them to compete on price, and the explosion of smart phones in the past half decade means that it's really easy for me to find the same book online, either e-book or dead tree. Before the smartphone explosion they weren't doing terrible in spite of the same disadvantages in terms of price and selection, largely because people did not want to go to a bookstore, note down which books they want then go home connect to the internet and order them. So people were more willing to just buy it there, and maybe grab a coffee at the cafe while they read. However with smartphones it doesn't matter how inviting you make the place, I can still order the same book online and be out of there in less time than it would take to wait in line at the register. It's going to be very difficult for brick and mortar stores to compete in the age of smartphones. Maybe if they could figure out how to adapt 3d printing to books, i.e. if there is a book you want to read in dead tree, you can order it on your phone, go grab a coffee and have a copy waiting for you when you leave. Then maybe the brick-and-mortar places could compete, since they wouldn't have to have nearly as much capital tied up in books, but until then they are doomed.
Re:Bookstores - are you trying to change hard enou (Score:3, Interesting)
The last time I tried buying a book from a real book store, was at Borders. I noticed the book I went there for was around 10% more expensive in person than on their own website. I told the sales rep and expected them to match the online price. She said they would not match the price, because in the store you are paying for the convenience of getting the book immediately, versus having to wait a few days. So if I didn't need to the book immediately, to buy it online and wait. So I did buy it online, from Amazon. That was the last time I ever went to a physical book store. About 4 years ago.
Re:I prefer to browse real bookstores (Score:2, Interesting)
I've found Barnes & Noble to be stocked with whatever they can find that's made of paper and glue, mostly garbage of no note, or stuff that was a top-seller 50 years ago. It seems to be a random selection of whatever sells, like a scifi compendium called "Ultimate Dick" carrying the works of Philip K. Dick because you know people will buy something called "Ultimate Dick" ... right next to some 3rd-grade-reading-level pulp that costs a dollar on Amazon and was printed by Del Rey, the go-to publisher for printing five million copies of the toilet paper you wiped your ass with this morning. They even carry graphic novels, usually a random pick from the middle of a series (typically not #1, and they don't track or change week by week).
Brick-and-mortar stores carry what looks like it has a nice cover and can sell to idiots. There's nothing worth buying in any of them.