Bookstores Are Struggling. Is a New E-Commerce Site the Answer? (nytimes.com) 29
The rapid rise of Bookshop.org during the shutdown has been hailed as a boon for independent stores. But some booksellers worry it could become another competitor for online business. From a report: In January, when Andy Hunter, the publisher of a small press, started an online bookstore that he pitched as the indie alternative to Amazon, many in the book business had their doubts. Earlier efforts to create a portal for independent booksellers had done little to chip away at Amazon's market share, and even retailers like Barnes & Noble have struggled to compete. Mr. Hunter felt there was an unexploited opportunity. Seizing even a fraction of Amazon's sales would be a windfall for independent stores, which would receive a cut of the site's profits. Mr. Hunter told investors that within two years, his site, Bookshop, could reach $30 million in annual sales, a projection that struck some as wildly optimistic. Then, in March, the coronavirus pandemic forced bookstores across the United States to shut their doors. Hundreds of bookstore owners, many of whom couldn't enter their stores to fulfill online or phone orders, joined the new site.
Now Bookshop is on track to exceed $40 million in sales this year, blowing past the sum that Mr. Hunter initially hoped to reach by 2022. The site sold some $4.5 million of books in May, and more than $7 million in the first two weeks of June. More than 750 bookstores have joined, and Bookshop has generated more than $3.6 million for stores. The company is preparing to expand its operations to Britain later this year, where it plans to partner with the book wholesaler Gardners. "There were a number of skeptics about whether this would work," said Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics & Prose in Washington. "Bookshop has certainly worked better than anybody anticipated, because nobody anticipated a pandemic." Some wonder whether Bookshop will remain a viable player in the online retail ecosystem as stores begin to reopen, and customers who turned to the site during the shutdown revert to in-store and curbside shopping. Meanwhile, Amazon, which accounts for some 70 percent of online book sales, has strengthened its position as the world's largest online retailer. The company reported $75.5 billion in sales during its most recent fiscal quarter, a 26 percent increase from the year-ago quarter.
Now Bookshop is on track to exceed $40 million in sales this year, blowing past the sum that Mr. Hunter initially hoped to reach by 2022. The site sold some $4.5 million of books in May, and more than $7 million in the first two weeks of June. More than 750 bookstores have joined, and Bookshop has generated more than $3.6 million for stores. The company is preparing to expand its operations to Britain later this year, where it plans to partner with the book wholesaler Gardners. "There were a number of skeptics about whether this would work," said Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics & Prose in Washington. "Bookshop has certainly worked better than anybody anticipated, because nobody anticipated a pandemic." Some wonder whether Bookshop will remain a viable player in the online retail ecosystem as stores begin to reopen, and customers who turned to the site during the shutdown revert to in-store and curbside shopping. Meanwhile, Amazon, which accounts for some 70 percent of online book sales, has strengthened its position as the world's largest online retailer. The company reported $75.5 billion in sales during its most recent fiscal quarter, a 26 percent increase from the year-ago quarter.
Re:Lose the sentimental adherence to the past (Score:5, Interesting)
They need both. Some people just do not like e-books and want the paper. Maybe the market is smaller but it's not dying. Amazon still sells tons of books and make a lot of money from it. What's hurting is the actual brick and mortar stores. There is indeed less reading, and ebooks doesn't solve that when the competition is youtube, tiktok, netflix, and mobile games.
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I think the problem with book stores, is less of a lack of demand for paper books, vs e-books but changes in general logistics that allows for direct to consumer shipments of goods and services, with less middlemen.
I can go to the publishing companies homepage and order from them, I can go to Amazon who buys from the publishing company in bulk.
Or I can buy a book, from a store that has bought it already from the publisher in a small batch, have it sit on a shelf (costing the book store money) for weeks, mon
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That word. It does not mean what you think it means....
And spelling "then" with an "a" turns it into another word, which probably also doesn't mean what you think it means.
I'm thinking you meant "then exaggerates"?
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That word. It does not mean what you think it means....
And spelling "then" with an "a" turns it into another word, which probably also doesn't mean what you think it means.
I'm thinking you meant "then exaggerates"?
No, exasperate is a perfectly reasonable word to use in this situation. One of its definitions is to increase the gravity or intensity of something. Another definition is to irritate to a higher degree.
Both definitions are valid in this situation.
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I'm thinking that the closest match is probably: exacerbate
meaning: make (a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling) worse
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I still like to go into the independent shops and see what they recommend and put up in front, etc. They aren't recommended for me, they are just 'a thing the staff likes'.
I've found and read some interesting books I would never have seen; same with music back in the old days of record stores.
Online recommendations aren't the same -- I often just ignore amazon, netflix, etc. recommendations because they are just so much more noise on a busy interface - or they have just been historically wrong or bad reco
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People still buy books. The problem is the logistics. Nobody wants to pay $30 in shipping for a $5 book. The ideal solution is really to have people who want to pick up physical books, be able to get a book POD (Print on Demand) version locally, that can just be recycled after. The POD version would simply be equal to the paperback version, but without a fancy cover. If you want the non-POD hard-copy version, then order it, and it will get sent to the publisher's designated distribution point (eg a Library
Bookstores (Score:3)
Bookstores didn't provide a useful enough service, so people switched to Amazon.
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Bookstores didn't provide a useful enough service, so people switched to Amazon.
No. People switched to Amazon to save money.
However, the savings is not that great. Go ahead and shop for that paperback you want, after S&H, it is not cheap.
Amazon like all e-retailers, use shipping and handling as a profit center. That is why when you buy enough for free shipping, Amazon sits on the order but when you PAY for faster shipping, you get it sooner - even though it IS coming out of the SAME distribution center. Here in Atlanta, we would get free 2-day shipping when we hit the $25 for an
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No, we switched away from B&N largely because they decided that locking us into a Nook (app or device) was the way to go.
Unfortunately, we have other options for our ebooks, so we not only won't buy ebooks from them, we won't buy paper books from them either....
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The Nook is an extremely good eBook reader.
And there is no lock whatsoever, it mounts as an USB drive on PCs an Macs.
(Facepalm)
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I think Bookstores, Record Stores and what were Movie Rentals, etc... Seemed to have an image problem. Snooty owners who loved their products so much, that they get snotty at you for buying the Pop-Culture Crap, while not taking an interest at the real Gems (in their opinion). Oh I see you getting "Harry Potter", You really should get the "Chronicles of Narnia" Trust me the movies doesn't give it justice you will enjoy it better.
It is like going to the Apple Store saying wanting to know how much is the Wi
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What is really happening is people are drifting to more active content on the internet, rather than passive content. I used a read a lot, a book a day and now, none. I get it all from the internet, the bit of passive content and lots of interactive content.
Fiction books are competing with all other available content and they are not winning. Games, blogs, forums all interactive even schools are starting to get there, build interactive content for children to play with after hours, social building content, s
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The discovery process is completely different - Amazon is like a fire hose, you need to be careful how to drink from it.
No one can emulate the smell of old books in a local store, or the cheap prices - there are often deals for $0.50-2, but selection vary.
I think the two are going to co-exist for a while.
Dead tree books will always be here (Score:2)
DRMed files that require fragile technology that becomes obsolete within half a decade are damn convenient, but centuries from now, our descendants will curse us and our bitrotted culture.
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Remember what Enigma was used for?
It's dead, Jim (Score:2)
It really is!
Now we know who started the pandemic! (Score:2)
"Then we'll have to change the environment. I have a friend who does bat research..."
NOTE There is zero evidence that the coronavirus was human-made or deliberately distributed. There is, in fact, evidence to the contrary. This post is strictly an attempt at humor, not an endorsement of anyone's crackpot coronavirus conspiracy theories.
Celebrate competition (Score:1)
I understand, why booksellers worry about competition, but I don't get, why TFA implies, the rest of us should share the concern.
Competition among retailers, manufacturers, and service-providers is a good thing for us, the consumers.
They could add digital (Score:2)
I read a huge number of books on my kindle, mostly but not limited to kindle unlimited. It is easy to find new books, instant downloading, and the kindle itself does not strain my eyes. I am very unhappy about the lock-in, inability to load my own audio content even though you can use audible audiobooks, and so on. I would be a prime customer if these guys would sell digital and they could do it like this:
Make recommendations about book readers for example if I want to buy PDF magazines I will need a large
Same with CD (Score:1)
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Is this really helping small bookstores much? (Score:2)
So 750 stores share $3.600,000. That works out to only $4800 per store. is that really going to help independent bookstores stay in business? Even if that were $4800 per month I'm not so sure it would help too many stores stay in business.