Quote:
Originally Posted by rcentros
Well, the multiple bookstores went out a long time ago when Barnes & Noble ran most all of the mom & pop bookstores out of business and then one by one, killed the smaller mall bookstores. Barnes & Noble accomplished this feat with discounting, of all things. How ironic. So am I supposed to cry a river for Barnes & Noble now? Here's what you need to do Barnes & Noble ... COMPETE with Amazon. Don't try to sell at your set-in-stone prices and whine that Amazon is taking the lion's share of the business. After all, Amazon was once the "little guy."
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Actually, the way B&N won was not by being cheaper, but rather customer experience at roughly the same price. The fundamental difference between Amazon and brick and mortar stores is that a physical store draws customers from those who are within an easy travel distance, while Amazon has no such limitation.
There are few companies that survive for long in a race to the bottom with regards to price. More than price, Amazon provides convenience and customer service. IMPO, an online bookstore could compete with Amazon by providing a better shopping experience. For a long while, there was a big issue with being able to port books from device to device, but with more and more people reading on tablets rather than dedicated ebook readers, I don't think that will be as big of a problem.