Only with how things are done in France, with paper books
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Originally Posted by Xanthe
I don't know about that rationale. Independent stores seem to charge full prices for books.
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In France the publisher decides on a price for each book and from then wherever (online, chain store or a small independent one) one will buy said price, it will be the same price.
That's the law. The maximum discount, called the publisher discount, is 5%. Before, some independent bookstores weren't applying it, now pretty much every book is sold with this discount.
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Originally Posted by Rbneader
And that's the problem in a nutshell. We *don't* need independent bookstores. Amazon and online bookstores have taken over the 'providing niche books' niche. There isn't really a need for small stores that only sell books anymore.
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Where I live, there are many independent bookstores more than the big chain ones. I find them useful when buying books for children, for example. I know many people who wish to find a book dealing with things that their children are going to experience soon to prepare them. For example, when my best friend was expecting her second child she was trying to find a book in which the mom is breastfeeding her baby (not common in books here*). The shopkeeper was able to help her find what book would be best suited for that.
* you also have loads of books with siblings being a brother and a sister, it's hard to find ones with two boys or two girls.
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Originally Posted by tompe
But the reason is not to be protective towards smaller booksellers. The reason is to be protective towards the book buyers and ensure that they do not get it worse in the long run. And one method to do that seems to be to protect smaller booksellers.
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I agree with you. This is the end goal in my opinion, for that the small bookstores need to stay up and running.
Edit: regarding what could happen if Aurélie Filippetti idea goes through, I think Amazon will have much more premium users than before. I don't think it can be seen as free shipping since buyers pay a monthly fee. Could be a good thing for Amazon in the end...