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Originally Posted by stonetools
Unfortunately, this is exactly what is likely NOT to happpen now. All those things you mention take money-money likely to be devoted now to matching Amazon price discounts.
Independent booksellers have tried to compete against Amazon by offering better book recommendation services- and customershave browsed their shelves, listened to their knowledgeable and friendly staff-and gone home to buy from Amazon.
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It doubt it would happen with agency pricing pricing in place. Why shop anywhere other than amazon when you're guaranteed the same price and better ecosystem?
Without agency, retailers have room to try alternative ways to get customers in as kobo appear to be trying with their discounts atm on non-agency titles. They're still going to have to find a way to compete on the ecosystem front and I don't know what form that could take but they'll need something. Maybe they'll find a way to get deals with authors for provindg ARCs to their pre-order customers or with more than a minutes thought who knows what else they could come up with. IMO loyalty programs are a very real method, it's what made me initially buy from non-amazon stores, I only stopped and went to amazon when agency was introduced and those programs ended.
Pricing wise though, if enough retailers had discounts on _different_ books, Amazon could not afford or more likely would not want to afford the cost of matching all of them. They may just stick to offering lower cost best sellers.
I don't see agency helping in any way break amazon's grip (assuming they move to it again legally in the future).