David Nicholls: Browsing bookshops then buying online is a 'genteel form of shoplifti

[jgaiser]

David Nicholls: Browsing bookshops then buying online is a 'genteel form of shoplifting'

http://www.theguardian.com/books/201...ndon-book-fair

Recently seen on Reddit's book subreddit. I've always done comparison shopping long before Amazon and definitely don't see it as shoplifting. Comments?

[QuantumIguana]

It's not shoplifting, genteel or otherwise. Still, I don't do it; if I am browsing in a bookstore, it is because I am seriously considering buying a paper book, even if I do have a Kindle in my hand. I just ask that it not be assumed that just because I have a Kindle in my hand that I must be browsing to buy online.

[cromag]

"Shoplifting" may be overstating it, but I don't consider it to be ethical.

Of course, the same thing happens throughout the retail world -- people go into furniture stores, electronics stores, etc., to find the item they need and then go online to buy it. Sometimes from their smartphone, right at the retailer's store.

[crich70]

I don't think it's unethical at all. As far as books there is the sample feature as well as teh open book that shows a sample so how is that different from looking at a book on a shelf? The author still gets paid for his/her book either way.

[murg]

Reading reviews to determine which book to buy is a form of shoplifting...

Shoplifting? Unethical?

Good grief. People have been going to stores that offer better pre-sale service, then buying from stores that offer better prices for a very long time. There is nothing wrong with that. Indeed, it is an opportunity for those stores to demonstrate how they can offer better service after the product has been purchased. If the customer doesn't think that post-sale service is relevant to them, well, the store should take the perspective of nothing ventured-nothing gained.

I also suspect that brick and mortar stores are over valuing what they have to offer, and are overestimating the amount of showrooming that goes on. The value of information found online is often far greater than what you can get by looking at products. For something like books, you can only review passages. For other products, demo units are frequently limited in terms of functionality. Reviews, when examined critically, can tell the consumer a lot more. Sample chapters give you both the opportunity and an environment free of pressure to consider a product. Datasheets often give concrete details that demo units and salespeople can't. Then there is the whole time aspect.

[Turtle91]

This has been discussed before in this forum.

I haven't purchased a pBook in several years. I probably WON'T purchase a pBook again - unless it happens to be a required school textbook, or a hard copy of Twilight with autographs from the entire crew....

That doesn't mean I don't enjoy walking through a book store and looking at what's new. Just like I walk through new car lots occasionally to see what's out there...or furniture stores to see how cheep they are actually making this stuff and how much they want to charge for it...

If I see something I like, then I will make a mental note. When it comes time to purchase - IF I decide to purchase - I will then find that item for the best value/price I can. It's called shopping around. If it happens to be a book that I saw when I was in a store a couple weeks ago, and I can get it much cheaper on Amazon/BN/Bubba's Bookstore, I'll use them.


Just because I see an item on a showroom floor in no way EVER obligates me to purchase that item from that store....and it is in no way EVER considered stealing/shoplifting/unethical ...big brother/government hasn't mandated I buy from a bookstore I just stepped into...yet

[eschwartz]

I have heard one mildly rational explanation as to why showrooming and buying online is wrong -- it specifically referred to wasting the employees' valuable time getting help, with the intent to buy online.

Of course, you can still defend that as comparison shopping, plain and simple.
Regardless, bookstores don't suffer that flaw -- the cashiers usually know nothing about books and cannot recommend anything useful.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I have heard one mildly rational explanation as to why showrooming and buying online is wrong -- it specifically referred o wasting the employees' valuable time getting help, with the intent to bu online.

Of course, you can still defend that as comparison shopping, plain and simple.
Regardless, bookstores don't suffer that flaw -- the cashiers usually know nothing about books and cannot recommend anything useful.

Funny I have always thought that the employee was there for the customer not the other way round. Granted they hope to make a sale, but clerks are there to help those who come to their store. My dad had an experience once with the manager of a store (no longer here) once. He picked up a magazine and glanced through it to see if he wanted to buy it and the guy made a remark to the effect that it was a store not a library. Needless to say my dad didn't go back. Did the guy have a point? Perhaps. But certainly my dad wasn't hurting anything by looking through the magazine before deciding whether to purchase it or not, and the guy could have phrased his comments far better I'm sure. I'm of the opinion that a store is there for its customers, not the other way round. If the customer isn't happy they won't come back again, and what's worse they'll tell others about the bad service at (store name) which may result in other sales being lost to that store as well. It's not just book stores that have people who don't know their product either. When I got my 1st computer (a TRS-80 16 k computer) I bought it at the Radio Shack in the town I was living in back then. Later I got a dot matrix printer, but the printer didn't have a cable with it to connect it to the computer. So I had to go back to the store and see about buying one. The owner didn't know what I was talking about. I had to look it up in the catalog myself. He'd started as a TV repair shop owner and just gotten into electronics later so he didn't know the first thing about what he was selling.

[HarryT]

It certainly isn't shoplifting, but I do think it's ethically dubious to browse in a physical bookstore with the specific aim of then buying online. The reason that online stores can offer lower prices is precisely because they don't have the expense of operating a physical store.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It certainly isn't shoplifting, but I do think it's ethically dubious to browse in a physical bookstore with the specific aim of then buying online. The reason that online stores can offer lower prices is precisely because they don't have the expense of operating a physical store.

I suppose you think it's not ethical either to go to a shop looking for a displayed item and later purchase it at another shop where it is cheaper because they have less inventory.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

I suppose you think it's not ethical either to go to a shop looking for a displayed item and later purchase it at another shop where it is cheaper because they have less inventory.

Please read what I actually said: that I think it's unethical to browse in a bookstore when you already have the specific intention of later buying online.

[Kasper Hviid]

Some time ago, I went into a electronic store to buy a microphone. I looked over the various options, feeling completey clueless. I the end, I walked up to the counter and asked the clerk what he would recommend. While he wouldn't advice me to buy cheapest, he also made me forget about their more expensive ones. If I wanted to go up in that price area, he told me, I had better visit a shop specialized in audio equipment, and not general electronics. In the end, I bough one in the lower middle ground.

It is capitalism, but it is also just people who upholds their humanity, despite what behavior would be optimal within the rules of the market. Kind of like prisoners dilemma - both can benefit, but it requires a trust that the other part won't try to screw you over.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Please read what I actually said: that I think it's unethical to browse in a bookstore when you already have the specific intention of later buying online.

The same case I say. You are going to purchase it at a shop, that it has the cheapest price, but the item is not in display, so you go where you can see it prior to the purchase.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It certainly isn't shoplifting, but I do think it's ethically dubious to browse in a physical bookstore with the specific aim of then buying online. The reason that online stores can offer lower prices is precisely because they don't have the expense of operating a physical store.

Do you consider it equally dodgy to read product reviews at Amazon and then buy at a local business?