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pwjone1 · 12-12-2010, 08:10 AM

I was over in Europe on business, so did not catch this story when it came out, but I have to say, it just seems highly unlikely. Interesting conjecture, and never-say-never, but with the two #1 and #2 in Books, I don't think it passes muster with the anti-monopoly laws in the U.S. Granted, those are less and less enforced, but it's a Democratic administration, mergers and buy-outs have a little tougher time passing muster. The only way to get around it would be the convince the government and courts that Amazon/Walmart are the real competition.

As a customer of many bricks & mortar bookstores, I'm not sure how I see this playing out. B&N and Borders did a pretty good job on the little mom & pop type bookstores, I sorely miss those. The B&N and Borders play is about variety and pricing. They build bigger, they price cheaper. I personally prefer B&N, they have a discount card which is handy for frequent buyers, and a wider selection of discounted books. I've found the larger Borders stores to be better in Computer books sections. But if they downsize their stores, then it lets back in the mom & pop operations, not a bad thing to my way of thinking, but just doesn't work. If you're small, the local operations beat you on tailoring to the local environment. Certainly the backend distribution systems would benefit from combination, but local stores could pool (and do). However, any time a book is not in stock (either because they don't stock it, or sold out), I order on-line. Why go through the trouble of ordering at the bookstore, just go on-line, shipped to your door (or eBook reader). There I buy more from Amazon, but I run it through a pricing engine first.

But, I have to say I have shifted over my buying, where it makes sense, to eBooks. They're generally cheaper, no need to set foot in a bookstore, point click and purchase, easier to carry with when you travel. Trying to get 100% of my fiction reading there, but am still waiting for a good color + large page eBook reader (the iPad is close) for the rest. Textbooks are somewhere in between. But I tend to be ahead of the curve, I think it will take longer for the average consumer to shift. Their kids will shift, if they're still reading.

So probably both B&N and Borders are a bit undervalued, if they were ever to get their internal house in order.

12-12-2010, 08:10 AM	#74
pwjone1 Bookie Posts: 110 Karma: 702568 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Poughkeepsie, NY Device: none	B&N&Borders - Not likely I was over in Europe on business, so did not catch this story when it came out, but I have to say, it just seems highly unlikely. Interesting conjecture, and never-say-never, but with the two #1 and #2 in Books, I don't think it passes muster with the anti-monopoly laws in the U.S. Granted, those are less and less enforced, but it's a Democratic administration, mergers and buy-outs have a little tougher time passing muster. The only way to get around it would be the convince the government and courts that Amazon/Walmart are the real competition. As a customer of many bricks & mortar bookstores, I'm not sure how I see this playing out. B&N and Borders did a pretty good job on the little mom & pop type bookstores, I sorely miss those. The B&N and Borders play is about variety and pricing. They build bigger, they price cheaper. I personally prefer B&N, they have a discount card which is handy for frequent buyers, and a wider selection of discounted books. I've found the larger Borders stores to be better in Computer books sections. But if they downsize their stores, then it lets back in the mom & pop operations, not a bad thing to my way of thinking, but just doesn't work. If you're small, the local operations beat you on tailoring to the local environment. Certainly the backend distribution systems would benefit from combination, but local stores could pool (and do). However, any time a book is not in stock (either because they don't stock it, or sold out), I order on-line. Why go through the trouble of ordering at the bookstore, just go on-line, shipped to your door (or eBook reader). There I buy more from Amazon, but I run it through a pricing engine first. But, I have to say I have shifted over my buying, where it makes sense, to eBooks. They're generally cheaper, no need to set foot in a bookstore, point click and purchase, easier to carry with when you travel. Trying to get 100% of my fiction reading there, but am still waiting for a good color + large page eBook reader (the iPad is close) for the rest. Textbooks are somewhere in between. But I tend to be ahead of the curve, I think it will take longer for the average consumer to shift. Their kids will shift, if they're still reading. So probably both B&N and Borders are a bit undervalued, if they were ever to get their internal house in order.