What's the combined market share of Waterstones and Amazon of the UK book market, particularly looking at the ebook market? Isn't this something for an anti-trust investigation?
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Originally Posted by Top100EbooksRank
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Thnka you for the link, even though I don't share your opinion or the opinion expressed by the linked blog.
From the link "The underlying strategy is to quit spending psychic energy and executive time trying to stop the Amazon tide and begin to figure out how to make money from Amazon".
That's nice blurb-speak but it ignores that Waterstones core business is selling books. Being succesful in the ebook market should therefore be a prime concern for the management. Instead, Waterstones has just reduced itself from independent major bookseller to junior partner in the very segment of the bookmarket with the highest growth rates. They are now comparable to those shops that sell e.g. mobile phones and phone contracts for companies like Vodafone for a commission. Customers handed over to Amazon are customers handed over for good. Because of Amazon's walled garden concept these customers aren't going to return, even if Waterstones should decide to cooperate with some other partner later on.
I cannot quite follow the argument that selling a reader of their own would have cost hundreds of millions GBP. An ebook-reader isn't exactly a new Airbus. They could have easily set up a cooperation with an existing manufacturer for a co-branded reader. The new Pocketbook Touch gets excellent reviews, to name just one option. They also have their own ebook shop already. Therefore where are those hundreds of millions coming from?
I just can not comprehend why Waterstones has failed to use its significant brand recognition in Europe by locking out all continental buyers. Amazon is happy to sell the very books that are supposedly geographically restricted to european customers.