Quote:
Originally Posted by murraypaul
I think there is one legitimate beef that bricks and mortar stores (in general, not just books) have with online stores (again, in general), and that is that the B&M stores end up being the storefronts for the online stores. They are the places people walk into to try products out, compare them, get some info, and then go back home and order from the online stores. So the B&M stores are carrying all the overhead that goes with physical stores, but the online stores are getting the benefit.
There really is no way the the B&M stores can prevent or benefit from that. They cannot sell as low as the online stores do, because of all the B&M overhead. But if all the B&M stores went away, the online stores suddenly wouldn't have those free storefronts, and might have to pay to provide their own. So the online stores need to keep the B&M stores just profitable enough so they can continue to benefit from their services. Is it a parasitic relationship, or is it parasitoidal?
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That may make sense for you, but for me the B&M store did not even offer me the browsing experience I wanted. The online store did.
Again, a lot of you are missing the point. I can get what I want from Amazon, with an excellant customer service experience, and very good prices. The B&M stores and the publishers as a whole don't offer that, either they can't because of the nature of the business, or they simply don't want to. For a customer like me, Amazon is a good answer.