Wal-Mart, Amazon.com trade price cuts on books

[DMcCunney]

http://www.saukvalley.com/articles/2...4178/index.xml

[phenomshel]

Ummm..Where are you???? This is my local paper, so I'm assuming we're either in the same area, or you're an ex-resident? Wow, not what I was expecting this morning, LOL!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Ummm..Where are you???? This is my local paper, so I'm assuming we're either in the same area, or you're an ex-resident? Wow, not what I was expecting this morning, LOL!

Neither.

I'm in the north east, and to my knowledge have never been closer to that area than Chicago.

But the Internet allows you to be virtually almost anywhere...
______
Dennis

[phenomshel]

LOL this is true. A Saukvalley.com link just wasn't what I was expecting to crop up here at Mobile Read. Especially on no caffeine, *grin*.

I know there's at least two members here (me being one of them) who count that paper as "local"...was kind of hoping I'd found another one

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

http://www.saukvalley.com/articles/2...4178/index.xml

As I mentioned on another post.......Walmart will still charge tax, while Amazon doesn't.

at 8 1/2% here, that kind of negates the savings.

Also........shipping is not free on ALL books. Only selected ones.

Walmart will have to do a little better.

[AnemicOak]

Noticed this on the upcomming J.D. Robb that I preordered for my Mom. They've dropped the Kindle price from $9.99 to $9.00 too.

[sforce]

Now Target is jumping into the mud pit:

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Target.com today announced it is offering pre-orders of this season’s most anticipated books at $8.99, matching recent Wal-Mart.com and Amazon.com price cuts. In addition, the discounted pre-order books will qualify for free site-to-home shipping.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Target....html?x=0&.v=1

[rhadin]

I wonder if this is a battle that Amazon can win. Wal-Mart (and now Target) can underwrite these books and sell them for a penny and over the long-term because of their financial status. Amazon I think would be hard-pressed to compete on price against Wal-Mart over the long-term; it isn't in the same financial league. OTOH, Bezos is willing to lose money (but are his shareholders still willing to do so?), whereas it is pretty clear that Wal-Mart is focused on profits. This will be an interesting battle.

I wonder what B&N will do. It can't ignore the fight but it can't win the fight either. Borders is already on life support; this could be the plug puller for it.

[fugazied]

/cackle let the battle begin!!

Once we see some better competition (eg. Apple entering the fray) in ebooks sales specifically I think they will drop fast too. There is little overhead other than publisher/author. Once a company has the server infrastructure ebooks are almost free to transmit to buyers. So if these companies keep up competing so brutally in the market we'll see benefits in the next six months! woohoo.

[sforce]

Even Sears has figured a way to join the book price-war ruckus:

Sears offers shoppers credit for book purchases

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Sears is joining the battle to win book sales, saying on Tuesday that it will give shoppers a credit toward a future purchase if they buy select books on its website or those of Target Corp, Amazon.com and Wal-Mart Stores.

Sears Holdings Corp said shoppers need to buy an eligible book on Sears.com, Target.com, Amazon.com or Walmart.com. After emailing Sears the receipt, shoppers will then receive an online credit of up to $9 to use toward a purchase of $45 or more on Sears.com.

The move comes as Walmart.com, Amazon and Target.com in recent days have slashed the price of highly anticipated hardcover books like "Breathless" by Dean Koontz or Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue: An American Life" to $9 and below. The steep price cuts represent discounts of nearly 60 percent or more off the cover price.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marke...0091020?rpc=44

[AnemicOak]

In a letter sent to the antitrust division of the Department of Justice Thursday, the board of directors of the American Booksellers Association requested that the government begin an investigation into what the organization believes is the illegal predatory pricing policies being carried out by Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target in selling 10 hardcover titles for as low as $8.98. The ABA requested a meeting with officials as soon as possible, arguing that left unchecked, the predatory pricing policies “will devastate not only the book industry, but our collective ability to remain a society where the widest range of ideas are always made available to the public.” .....

The letter added that the price war over hardcovers was precipitated by Amazon’s decision to price e-books at $9.99. “We believe the loss-leader pricing of digital content also bears scrutiny,” the letter stated.

Full article...
http://www.publishersweekly.com/arti...?desc=topstory

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by rhadin

I wonder if this is a battle that Amazon can win. Wal-Mart (and now Target) can underwrite these books and sell them for a penny and over the long-term because of their financial status. Amazon I think would be hard-pressed to compete on price against Wal-Mart over the long-term; it isn't in the same financial league. OTOH, Bezos is willing to lose money (but are his shareholders still willing to do so?), whereas it is pretty clear that Wal-Mart is focused on profits. This will be an interesting battle.

I wonder what B&N will do. It can't ignore the fight but it can't win the fight either. Borders is already on life support; this could be the plug puller for it.

Yes, Wal-Mart and Target have deeper pockets. The question will be how deep they want to dig.

I see this stuff as loss-leaders to attract traffic to the stores where folks will buy other things as well. I note this is happening in the leadup to the holiday season, and I'm sure Wal-Mart, Target, et al are thinking Christmas season. I can't see them trying to kill off Amazon long term.

For similar reasons, I don't see this killing B&N, who I think can live through this battle for market share. Borders may be another matter.
______
Dennis

[Hellmark]

Fox News is now reporting that the Booksellers Association is asking for the Justice Department to investigate. Kind of surprised that mainstream media is reporting on it.