While I disagree with everything else Scott Turow says, I do have to somewhat agree with, "Then Amazon dropped its bombshell: as it announced the launch of the Kindle, publishers learned that Amazon would be selling countless frontlist e-books at a loss... Amazon's predatory pricing would shield it from e-book competitors that lacked Amazon's deep pockets."
Amazon really is showing classic signs of dumping here, attempting to force all other smaller retailers out of the business by selling at an unsustainable prince until they are the only retailer left (creating a monopoly for themselves, which is a big reason dumping isn't legal)
Selling something as a loss-leader isn't new, it isn't "predatory", and it certainly isn't exclusive to Amazon. Retailers have been doing this for a long as retail has existed. It's no different than the local grocery store selling ultra-cheap cases of soda during the summer, in the hopes that you'll stock up on hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, chips, beer, etc. while you're there. Amazon selling e-books at a loss was a way to entice customers to purchase a fully-marked-up Kindle.
While it's true retailers do this, the issue it that amazon is doing it with an infinite number of copies, the sale on soda only goes as far as the surrounding area and only as many as the number of cases of soda in stock. Amazon is dumping, actively attempting to remove competition with unsustainable prices because it know that smaller retailers don't have the capital to keep up with their pricing scheme. This is definitely the definition of predatory, so while I disagree with the point of Turow writing this and his support of apple, I don't think amazon is the one we should be rooting for either.
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Dumping
Amazon really is showing classic signs of dumping here, attempting to force all other smaller retailers out of the business by selling at an unsustainable prince until they are the only retailer left (creating a monopoly for themselves, which is a big reason dumping isn't legal)
Selling something as a loss-leader isn't new, it isn't "predatory", and it certainly isn't exclusive to Amazon. Retailers have been doing this for a long as retail has existed. It's no different than the local grocery store selling ultra-cheap cases of soda during the summer, in the hopes that you'll stock up on hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, chips, beer, etc. while you're there. Amazon selling e-books at a loss was a way to entice customers to purchase a fully-marked-up Kindle.
While it's true retailers do this, the issue it that amazon is doing it with an infinite number of copies, the sale on soda only goes as far as the surrounding area and only as many as the number of cases of soda in stock. Amazon is dumping, actively attempting to remove competition with unsustainable prices because it know that smaller retailers don't have the capital to keep up with their pricing scheme. This is definitely the definition of predatory, so while I disagree with the point of Turow writing this and his support of apple, I don't think amazon is the one we should be rooting for either.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Matt.
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