Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
While I'm not a fan of regulations like these, I do sympathize with their general goals. And there are, empirically, really only two outcomes possible:
(1) You allow competition on price. Big chains win, consumers win, small corner bookstores lose and vanish.
(2) You don't allow competition on price. Small corner bookstores win, consumers and big chains lose.
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I don't really agree that there are only two possible outcomes, or at least that consumers and big chains lose when you set fixed prices.
A quick clarification first, on the matter of the fixed price itself :
This is not exactly a fixed price, a small (max 5%) discount is allowed. This usually does not amount to much due to prices in the 5-30€ range, though, but it allows a small diffferenciation and fidelity programs.
If you allow small stores to persist (fixed price doesn't ensure they're thriving, mind you), you tend to increase the diversisty of books available to consumers.
Big chains usually don't take risks with the books they stock, they take the mainstream stuff and maybe a small number of fringe stuff if the relevant personnel is knowledgeable and interested enough.
Small stores tend to be a bit specialized and so usually propose a wider variety of books in their chosen field of predilection.
The big chains still dominate the market because they can have a larger stock of the bestsellers and a wider general selection.
They also tend (in France, at least) to stock other items such as CDs, games, DVDs, ... making them a one stop location for "cultural" products and thus drawing more customers.
A word on the "unanimity" part of the article that was quoted :
As rogue_librarian (thanks) explained, the French Parliament is separated in two different houses, the Senate and the National Assembly.
The two houses have to vote on a law for it to be validated.
When they disagree, a special parliamentary commission is created with an equal number of members of both houses, in order to work on the law and try to find a middle ground.
When they do, it's not surprising that the commission's members vote unanimously for the law proposal that they have drafted.
The new proposal will still have to be voted by the two houses before it can be applied.