Book Publishers Selling Direct - Pissing Off Book Retailers

from the disintermediation... dept

One of the struggles that companies have as distribution and sales mechanisms change is handling legacy channel conflict issues. Dell became huge by selling direct to customers, but when rival Compaq started to move in that direction, their retail partners freaked out - and Compaq had to scale back their plans. It appears that book publishers are now going through the same process. They've realized that if someone is looking for info about certain books on their site, it makes sense to also offer them a chance to buy it. However, it's pissing off retailers, who don't want to hear that their suppliers are competing with them. Retailers say a reasonable compromise would be having the publishers point to the retailers, which was my first response as well. However, then it becomes a political situation of who do you link to and why? There's also the fact that this makes for a less enjoyable consumer experience. I know that, more than once, I've been annoyed at online sites where I go for info on buying a product, but when I try to buy am given a big list of retailers instead of a way to buy right away.
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  1. identicon
    Zonker, 13 Feb 2004 @ 5:56am

    Killing your channel...

    There's no way to solve both problems: But it's probably better for a publishing company to route people to retailers rather than handling orders themselves. For most non-retail businesses, order handling and customer service is an expense that they really don't need, and it's usually not something they're particularly competent at. If you're going to invest in those areas enough to provide really good service, then you're going to be focusing on competing with the businesses that are (usually) selling the bulk of your goods. It's better for a publisher to avoid this if at all possible.
    If you're willing to risk alienating some of your other retailers, you could go with one or two online retailers and simply route your customers direct to them. Or maybe just whip up a small app that redirects users to a random retailer when they click "buy" on the publisher's site...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    thecaptain, 13 Feb 2004 @ 7:26am

    No Subject Given

    Personally I'm tired of middlemen who offer nothing but a price boost and no value whine because customers and suppliers find a way to remove the middlemen. Frankly, people and companies do not have a RIGHT to take my money...they have to give me something for it.

    I don't like big companies forcing out small guys either...but I can't stand companies who just want to be middlemen...I like small bookstores because I get service and personal attention and such...but to me, buying a book at Amazon or buying it from the publisher direct makes no difference and if its cheaper, I'll get it from the publisher.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    aNonMooseCowherd, 13 Feb 2004 @ 7:27am

    Re: Killing your channel...

    Or maybe just whip up a small app that redirects users to a random retailer when they click "buy" on the publisher's site...

    It doesn't have to be random. The user could be offered a choice of being directed to the book store with the lowest price for that book, or the store closest to the user, based on zip code (at least in the U.S.).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Alex Moskalyuk, 13 Feb 2004 @ 8:17am

    The prices are usually non-competitive

    I have never bought anything from the publisher directly, since the prices are seldom competitive. Generally a quick search around Bookpool and Amazon, or doing the price comparison on AddAll gives you the lowest price and highest discount, whereas a bunch of publishers prefer to sell at list price.

    For older books Amazon Marketplace has been great buying used. Publishers are just looking for additional way to push their stuff, that's all. Building a Web site with book database in it is easy and cheap, hence why not.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    John Bartley, 13 Feb 2004 @ 11:18am

    Baen Direct

    Baen.com
    sells e-books direct, but paperbacks and hardbacks through traditional channels.

    In speaking with brick-and-mortar booksellers about this at home and when travelling, I find no animosity towards Baen, because Baen carefully documents how their program to *give* away full and complete e-books in multiple formats without DRM actually builds sales of current titles and backstock. See details at
    http://baen.com/library in the Prime Palaver editorials.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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