Quote:
Originally Posted by ApK
If you mean how could they enforce a minimum RETAIL price with a wholesale/retail pricing model, that's a totally different matter, and I'm not sure it's relevant to this thread. In brief, though, I'm pretty sure, as has been discussed in other threads about Apple and Bose products recently, in the U.S. at least, they are legally free to contractually require a minimum retail price. That's a matter of negotiation.
I think I was told here that in the UK, that is not allowed.
Of course, in the US at least, using the ability to discount in certain unfair ways that harms the competitive market may be predatory pricing and could be prosecuted.
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Yes, of course retail price. Amazon has ignored the wholesale price before 2010. When Amazon started selling bestsellers at $9.99 initially they did not make a loss, they broke even on those discounted books. Publishers were shocked that Amazon was selling them at cost, so they tried to increase the list price, with it the wholesale price went up some $ above 10. Amazon still sold at $9.99 and publishers were horrified seeing that Amazon just ate the difference.
This time around it seems to be about how much percent goes to whom at set retail prices through agency. Amazon might want to make a price below $10 more interesting by increasing their cut (in %) bigger above $10. E.g. 30% to Amazon at a retail price of under 10, and 50% above. So that financially it would make little sense to set the price between $10 and $14. If there is good enough reason to maybe protect a higher price for HC, then Hachette can do so. But they will have to pay for that privilege. The 30 and 50 and 10 are just imaginary numbers, the 14 is just the result of the numbers I pulled out of my hat.
In the case of Bose, there was always very restrictive contracts for those who wished to be a retailer. So restrictive that it makes it impractical for a small town audio equipment store to even bother. The stores that barely meet the qualifications have to work hard to even break even.