

Bookseller group wants [US government] to investigate retailers' price war - cwan
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/10/group_want_feds_to_investigate_book_price_war_between_amazon_wal-mart_target.html?ana=from_rss

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robryan
Can't win I guess, the booksellers group is making the same money on more
volume with the retailers taking the loss.

More worrying is there opposition to the digital book price, if this was to
close to a physical book price piracy would reign and they wouldn't get
anything.

The book industry is lucky in a way because while a illegal download of music
is mostly as good as the legal cd, people have a strong affinity with a
physical book and getting away from electronic screens to read.

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gojomo
_the booksellers group is making the same money on more volume_

No, the booksellers group represents _competitors_ to these big retailers, who
are losing business or profits due to the price competition.

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danek
Maybe this is the American dream?

Don't innovate. Get legal after your business starts going downhill due to
lack of said innovation. Claim it's to benefit the consumers.

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ghshephard
Another Possibility: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing>

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ars
> Authors and publishers, and ultimately consumers, stand to lose a great deal
> if this practice continues and/or grows.

How? The authors and publishers get their list price. The consumer gets a good
deal.

The only one who looses out is amazon/target/walmart, who loose money on each
sale.

So what's the problem?

> as a loss leader to attract customers to buy other, more profitable
> merchandise. The entire book industry is in danger of becoming collateral
> damage in this war.

Again, exactly the opposite will happen. Books are cheap, so customers will
buy lots of them. Publishers and authors will make lots of money. Retailers
will subsidize books using other merchandise.

How is that bad? It's great for book sales.

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wmf
The American Booksellers Association's obvious (if unstated) concern is that
pure-play bookstores like Borders and B&N will be driven out of business since
they don't have many other goods to subsidize losses with. If the price war
spills over from the Web to brick and mortar stores, I would be concerned
about the diversity of books available in real bookstores compared to Target
and Wal-Mart. In other markets, publishers have all but stopped producing
products that Wal-Mart won't carry since it is assumed that such products
won't make money; it might be a shame if the same thing happened in books.

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MikeCapone
We wouldn't competition that benefits consumers..

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wglb
Sounds like the association is complaining that the big three are failing to
collude to keep prices higher.

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jjs
Bookseller group should do its homework:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/business/worldbusiness/28i...](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/business/worldbusiness/28iht-
price.4.6394812.html)

