Australia/NZ Borders, A&R and Whitcoulls go bust

[djorkboy]

Do any Australians buy ebooks from Australian retailers? Myself and everyone I know buy their ebooks from offshore (mostly Amazon and Kobobooks), I had never even considered buying ebooks locally.

[Adjust]

I'm actually wondering where the Australian Publishers are going to sell their books now.

Will they have to decline the number of title they produce a year?
How will this impact local business, Book Printers, Book Designers, Typesetters. the flow on from this could very well be horrible to so many people.

[viviena]

Originally Posted by sabredog

Now blaming online shopping for their demise.

There is a connection to made regarding this. Their range and prices have been pretty bad. But it is their fault in the main as the bookstores were right at the forefront of continuing import restrictions and have been slow with ebook rollout.

I remember all the hullaballoo about allowing parallel importation, and I had the very strong impression that the majority of bookstores were in favour of opening up the market. In particular, it was Dymocks that campaigned strongly for this. One reason that was given was that they were aware that online orders were eating into their profits, and if they could import foreign editions and provide them cheaply, then they could counter that loss. (I'd certainly pay a couple more dollars to buy a pbook in person rather than buy from the Book Depository. Just not $15+.) It was the local publishing industry as well as some Australian authors that were against the revocation of import restrictions, one of their objections being that said bookstores would then flood the market with cheap and remaindered works by overseas authors, neglecting to support local authors.

Do any Australians buy ebooks from Australian retailers? Myself and everyone I know buy their ebooks from offshore (mostly Amazon and Kobobooks), I had never even considered buying ebooks locally.

I bought ebooks from Borders AU, mainly works by Aussie authors. Borders did have quite a few local works not sold by Kobo or Amazon. IIRC, one of Border's publicity releases had boasted of how they had signed ebook distribution deals with every major publishing house in Australia.

[Adjust]

Actually, Scrap my last comment, after giving it some thought, I'd say the closure of two of the biggest physical book store would only affect Book Printers. Because the Publishers would save on printing distribution and warehousing costs, and all the other professions, re: designers, typesetters etc, will still be needed to produce the digital books.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by viviena

I remember all the hullaballoo about allowing parallel importation, and I had the very strong impression that the majority of bookstores were in favour of opening up the market. In particular, it was Dymocks that campaigned strongly for this.

I do remember Dymocks making a fairly quiet argument regarding the issue. But I cannot recall the other booksellers making a big argement about it. You would think it would have been in their best interest to take a bigger campaign to the government.

Unfortunately Dymocks is expensive and uninterested in assisting customers to order books they simply do not sell. But they seem to be in a much stronger position than RedGroup.

So fair cop, I will admit that that was the wrong argument to use.

Originally Posted by viviena

I bought ebooks from Borders AU, mainly works by Aussie authors. Borders did have quite a few local works not sold by Kobo or Amazon. IIRC, one of Border's publicity releases had boasted of how they had signed ebook distribution deals with every major publishing house in Australia.

I do remember that press release and their estore did have several titles that were previously geo restricted.

I just heard a radio interveiw the owner of New Editions bookstore in Fremantle WA. he has said the online book purchasing is an issue but seems to think that parallel import restrictions are as big a problem for local stores

[sabredog]

Found this PDF, from a submission by a major Australia publisher to the Federal Government about parallel importing.

http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/p...741/sub214.pdf

[viviena]

For those who have gift cards from Borders or A&R:

Double trouble for holders of Borders' gift cards

Borders and Angus & Robertson customers left holding gift certificates after the booksellers fell into voluntary administration are being told they must spend double the amount of each voucher in order to redeem the cards.

I have a $20 gift card. I don't mind losing it, however, not if I have to shell out extra cash. I imagine since Christmas wasn't that long ago, that there's still a lot of people who haven't spent theirs. I've also heard that people with gift cards are teaming up with people making cash purchases, so if you're in this situation... it's better than nothing.

(Also, a small LOL at how security guards had to be called in at one of their stores.)

[jehane]

Originally Posted by sabredog

I do remember Dymocks making a fairly quiet argument regarding the issue. But I cannot recall the other booksellers making a big argement about it. You would think it would have been in their best interest to take a bigger campaign to the government.

Dymocks was actually one of the most vocal supporters of parallel imports, and a leading partner in the lobby group. They sent around a petition to their mailing list, at least to members of their Booklovers program. I'm not a member of A&R or Borders so I don't know if they did anything similar, but certainly they weren't otherwise actively involved.

A&R have been in trouble for a long time. Do you remember a few years ago when they told publishers they would be charging shelf space? ABC article

Unfortunately Dymocks is expensive and uninterested in assisting customers to order books they simply do not sell. But they seem to be in a much stronger position than RedGroup.

Obviously your mileage varied, but I have always found Dymocks staff excellent - it's one of the reasons I was loyal to them for so long. Its prices are on par with other Australian bookshops - expensive, but that is usually due to local publishers. I obtained many special orders from them in the past without any fuss. And they did jump on the e-reader bandwagon early with the iLiad - unfortunately this may have put them off trying again now that it's becoming more mainstream.

[jehane]

SMH article

Mr Grover said digital books, which account for 1 per cent of Australian book sales, are not the problem but internet booksellers are a serious challenge to all bookshops.

''One thing that contributed [to the REDgroup failure] is a significant lack of competition at a wholesale level in Australia,'' he said. ''I will be calling on the government to take immediate action. We need to see reform and the removal of parallel importation restrictions.''

Mr Grover led a campaign two years ago to allow booksellers to import books directly from overseas rather than depend on local publishers. The argument that this would result in cheaper books for consumers was upheld by the Productivity Commission, which recommended opening the market. But the government rejected the advice under pressure from local publishers who feared income and job losses.

Don Grover is CEO of Dymocks

[sabredog]

More back and forth

http://www.news.com.au/business/onli...-1226008266298

[wannabee]

Originally Posted by jehane

Obviously your mileage varied, but I have always found Dymocks staff excellent.

Not everyone agrees with that. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...cks#post181801

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by wannabee

Not everyone agrees with that. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...cks#post181801

Yep, I can relate to that.

I thought buying a series (fantasy series for my daughters) I saw online through a local bookshop was the "right" thing to do (Christmas 2010). So whilst shopping with my wife at Garden City, I ducked into Dymocks and had a look....no joy....

I then went to their "customer service" counter and asked if they had copies in stock of book one. They had never heard of the author or the series. Ok, fair enough I can live with that. Could they order two copies of the first book for me? One word...no.

No? Reason? Not in their catalogue or on their database...Too hard...

Strewth...

Hello eBay and hello Amazon for the ebook versions for my wife.

Now that my daughters have read the first book and buoyed by my wife's glowing endorsement of the series, they want the next two books. Time to greet eBay again.

Dymocks can go fester.

[AprilHare]

Originally Posted by viviena

For those who have gift cards from Borders or A&R:

Double trouble for holders of Borders' gift cards



I have a $20 gift card. I don't mind losing it, however, not if I have to shell out extra cash. I imagine since Christmas wasn't that long ago, that there's still a lot of people who haven't spent theirs. I've also heard that people with gift cards are teaming up with people making cash purchases, so if you're in this situation... it's better than nothing.

(Also, a small LOL at how security guards had to be called in at one of their stores.)

To quote myself from my reply to that article:

When a company does something underhanded like this, they are basically announcing that any attempt at salvaging their company is useless and they had nothing but contempt for their customers all along.
Posted by: AprilHare

[meremark]

Originally Posted by AprilHare

I hear you with regards to Dymocks. They charge like wounded bulls and the thought of being left to their tender mercies isn't a nice one..

......if you're lucky enough to have one! Spare a thought for those of us living outside the capitals where good old A&R is the ONLY option for paper books. Major bummer also that I still have $50 in gift vouchers I was meant to be spending on eBooks (it was for Xmas) and their website is not allowing their use online since going into administration.

I have close to zero economic knowledge but as soon as I read they were owned by a private equity mob I felt strangely suspicious.....

[AprilHare]

Originally Posted by AprilHare

I hear you with regards to Dymocks. They charge like wounded bulls and the thought of being left to their tender mercies isn't a nice one..

Originally Posted by meremark

......if you're lucky enough to have one! Spare a thought for those of us living outside the capitals where good old A&R is the ONLY option for paper books. Major bummer also that I still have $50 in gift vouchers I was meant to be spending on eBooks (it was for Xmas) and their website is not allowing their use online since going into administration.

I have close to zero economic knowledge but as soon as I read they were owned by a private equity mob I felt strangely suspicious.....

103 directly owned stores and 61 franchised stores.. the franchised stores should survive.. you have a 61/164 (or 37.2%) chance you'll be able to keep your A&R! (Presumably the ebook division won't survive though.)
Good luck..