New Online Bookshop Unites Indies To Rival Amazon (theguardian.com) 14
It is being described as a "revolutionary moment in the history of bookselling": a socially conscious alternative to Amazon that allows readers to buy books online while supporting their local independent bookseller. And after a hugely successful launch in the US, it is open in the UK from this week. From a report: Bookshop was dreamed up by the writer and co-founder of Literary Hub, Andy Hunter. It allows independent bookshops to create their own virtual shopfront on the site, with the stores receiving the full profit margin -- 30% of the cover price -- from each sale. All customer service and shipping are handled by Bookshop and its distributor partners, with titles offered at a small discount and delivered within two to three days. "It's been a wild ride," said Hunter, who launched the site in the US in January. "Five weeks into what we thought was going to be a six-month period of refining and improving and making small changes, Covid-19 hit and then suddenly we were doing massive business." Initially starting with 250 bookshops, more than 900 stores have now signed up in the US. "We went from selling $50,000 worth of books in all of February, to selling $50,000 a day in March, then $150,000 a day in April," said Hunter. By June, Bookshop sold $1m worth of books in a day. The platform has now raised more than $7.5m for independent bookshops across the US.
bookshop.org or uk.bookshop.org (Score:5, Informative)
Not everybody loves it (Score:5, Informative)
A lot of independent bookstores see Bookshop.com as taking money and faces away from them. Shops that had their own online presence are getting shortchanged, there should have been some way of referring to local bookstores directly, rather than them just getting a cut of proceeds.
I remember a similar platform in the '90s (Score:5, Interesting)
In the long ago days, in the late '90s, there were some books I wanted that were out of print and weren't available anywhere locally. There was a little startup online book seller who scoured book stores across the country, found me the out of print books I wanted, and shipped them to me. It was a great service, and even though this company was selling some books directly, they were also helping the independent book sellers make their inventory available to a much larger audience.
That company was named Amazon. Moral of the story? Be wary of anything that sounds too good to be true; the company helping the independents today might be gathering data to better compete with them tomorrow.
Re:I remember a similar platform in the '90s (Score:4, Interesting)
Okay, but if they succeed they aren't going to kill Amazon. If they become as big as Amazon then we have competition. If they betray the independent bookstores like Amazon did, then we can start another one and all the people that supported Bookshop.org because they work with independents can move to that new one. If that new one also grows too big, then we have three major shopping companies competing and thus multi-way competition. Problem solved QED. At least it's a start.
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When I was growing up, K-Mart was going to kill all the other retailers.
Then it was Walmart. Walmart was going to kill all the other retailers.
Now its Amazon. Amazon is supposed to kill all the other retailers.
Its all bullshit. Its comparing different markets. Just because Box Store sells books that doesnt make it a Book Store, and just because Box Store sells clothing that doesnt make it a clothing store.
When Amazon decided to diverge from being a Book
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K-Mart and Walmart competitors are still around, are physical bookstores still around like they were before Amazon where you live?
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Really? Amazon didn't kill book stores? I remember several brick and mortar book stores within easy driving distance when I was a kid. Guess how many of them are still around?
There are a few which have managed to survive (those specializing in used books, mostly), but Amazon certainly gutted the market. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, there are arguments to be made both ways, but it's a thing.
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Amazon make money from AWS now .... the on-line sales are a side business
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Amazon make money from AWS now .... the on-line sales are a side business
Not what's declared - online sales $45.9 Billion vs AWS $10.8 Billion in Q2 2020. See e.g. here [investopedia.com]
That's right, this is a trap in the making! (Score:2, Interesting)
In this case: It will probably start with e-book support, since independent shops don't sell them and consumers want them. They'll say "but we still give 10% back to a pot to support our physical book sellers" and it will go on from there. Eventually, they wi
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That company was named Amazon.
Wow, that took a turn at the end there. I thought you were referring to Abe Books [abebooks.com], which is still alive and kicking.
Good to see you catch up (Score:2)
My local bookstore belongs to a chain [libris.nl]. The chain has an online shop with a massive selection; basically every book I've wanted over the past few years was available. The default delivery option is pickup in the local bookstore, which means they still get the traffic (and I can't go into a bookstore without browsing for a bit) and a cut of the sales price. Best of both worlds.
What about hive? (Score:3)