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Originally Posted by porkupan
After all, many urban and suburban book lovers are not destitute, and could afford to spend a few extra bucks for the privilege to have a real bookstore in the neighborhood.
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If I decide it is necessary to personally dispense welfare, I will write the store a check.
Quote:
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I happen to believe that the bargain prices will only last as long as there is viable competition in the book selling business. Once the B&M stores cease to present any sort of a threat, the cheap prices at the online shark-super-store will give way to MSRP.
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"...as long as there is viable competition..."
If Amazon were to raise prices to (or above) MSRP, then a competitor would arise from exactly the same place Amazon did (essentially, nowhere) and undercut them. That's the thing about online business: it doesn't matter how big your store is, or how fancy the facade, or how much foot traffic you get, or how far your customers have to drive to get there. Amazon is as close, or as far, as any other online bookstore. And if they don't give the customers what they want (good prices, fast delivery) then someone else will. And they'll get the business instead. It's not even like Border's putting up a store across the street from Barnes & Noble:
every store on the Web is "across the street" from every other store.
At least, as long as they're not prohibited by law from doing so, as they are in some countries. And as they are with regard to Cabal-owned ebooks, which is another thread (or several) entirely.