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Originally Posted by fjtorres
Manufacturers always have the power to pull product away from retailers.
Just as they have the power to set prices.
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The problem is that distributors exist, and are a huge part of the book business.
If Macmillan refused to sell directly to Walmart, then Walmart can just go to Ingram or B&T and order a few hundred thousand books from them.
The publishers aren't obligated to sell direct to anyone, but as far as I know they can't order distributors not to sell to Walmart.
It would likely be illegal for the big publishers to get together and collectively say "no one sell to Walmart." If 7 out of the top 10 refuse to do so, Walmart can go to the other three and say "we're the biggest retailer on the planet, let's do business" -- and those three will have a huge competitive advantage.
I.e. the publishers can't afford
not to do business with the single largest retailer in the US.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by fjtorres
Try this: bring the Agency model to print books.
If it's good for ebooks, why not print?
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Because books are physical objects.
The store purchases, say, 20,000 copies of a book and sends it to its retail outlets and/or warehouses. Since they basically "own" the book, the reseller is taking some of the risk and costs, and is able to sell the book at whatever price it wants. If Walmart wants to treat the Harry Potter books as loss leaders by selling them at a loss, the publishers may not be thrilled about it but they already sold off the book; in doing so, they have effectively given up the right to set the final price.
With ebooks, the arrangement is radically different. The retailer isn't purchasing an object and reselling it; they are acting as a middle-man for the transaction. It's a different relationship based on the fact that it's a different medium.