Quote:
Originally Posted by murraypaul
If that is true to the exclusion of all else, then they are doomed whatever they do.
A physical bookstore cannot compete purely on price with Amazon.
If they do well, it has to be by offering something people don't get with an online store.
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The local store doesn't need to compete with Amazon in terms of pricing. It does need to compete with its own online store as regards pricing.
The local store does need to compete with Amazon in terms of customer service.
One thing a store can do that Amazon cannot is have knowledgeable help. When I worked for Waldenbooks many years ago, the store manager hired me to roam the floor and offer assistance to customers in choosing a book. The reason was that I had a broad reading experience and was familiar with many books and authors, in contrast to my coworkers who were decades younger (generally just out of high school) with narrower interests and little reading experience. That worked out well until the district supervisor caught on to what the manager had done and required her to change my job. The district manager didn't care that the local store had increased sales by 13% over the same quarter of the prior year as a result of what I was doing and what some of my coworkers were learning to do -- it wasn't the way corporate wanted things done.
B&N could hire book-knowledgeable people to staff its stores and gain a reputation for competitive prices and knowledgeable staff. That would help bring people like me back.