Many people go to physical stores, look for a product they like, then search it on Amazon.
Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
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Re: Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
#12> by siphoning business from the real world and replacing it with internet commerce. I've got news for you, people want to order on a whim and have it arrive at their home the next day. If you don't offer that then people won't buy from you. In many parts of the world overgrown local busybodies have destroyed "high streets" in attempts to monetize drivers and pad their CV; driving people away.
People also want & need to explore physical spaces above and beyond what a recommendation algorithm suggests. People want to have the full experience of being immersed in a space. People want to smell the books. People want to try on clothes and see how they fit and compare them. People don’t want to be drawn in by the short-term convenience of the most convenient price.
Some do want that. But empirically, not enough people want it enough to support a lot of these places.
Re: Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
#13> by siphoning business from the real world and replacing it with internet commerce. I've got news for you, people want to order on a whim and have it arrive at their home the next day. If you don't offer that then people won't buy from you. In many parts of the world overgrown local busybodies have destroyed "high streets" in attempts to monetize drivers and pad their CV; driving people away.
People also want & need to explore physical spaces above and beyond what a recommendation algorithm suggests. People want to have the full experience of being immersed in a space. People want to smell the books. People want to try on clothes and see how they fit and compare them. People don’t want to be drawn in by the short-term convenience of the most convenient price.
Some people do. I collect antique books on natural history and science, so I very well know. But a lot of people do not. Thus the ebook.
Clothes are an entirely different thing to books
Re: Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
#14> by siphoning business from the real world and replacing it with internet commerce. I've got news for you, people want to order on a whim and have it arrive at their home the next day. If you don't offer that then people won't buy from you. In many parts of the world overgrown local busybodies have destroyed "high streets" in attempts to monetize drivers and pad their CV; driving people away.
As per TFA, they sell their books online. Personally, having seen how Amazon achieves next-day delivery in markets with poor labour laws, my desire to receive products quickly has receded greatly.
Err. They took weeks to fulfill orders according to the article, and a lot of the purchases were unsustainable pity purchases.
This article shows they are just leveraging underdog marketing appeal.
Re: Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
#15> by siphoning business from the real world and replacing it with internet commerce. I've got news for you, people want to order on a whim and have it arrive at their home the next day. If you don't offer that then people won't buy from you. In many parts of the world overgrown local busybodies have destroyed "high streets" in attempts to monetize drivers and pad their CV; driving people away.
Fortunately, Powells is great for this. Whenever I need a book delivered in the US they deliver.
"In many parts of the world overgrown local busybodies have destroyed "high streets" in attempts to monetize drivers and pad their CV; driving people away. "
Not sure what you're getting at here but if you think you deserve free private car storage on public land you might try reading The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup.
Re: Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
#16When I visited the PNC in 2015 I peregrinated all the way from Seattle (WA) to Portland (OR) simply for the joy of visiting Powell’s . I even chose my hotel to be as close as possible (which turned out to be the very hip ACE Hotel, which was another amazing experience). These places may be retail businesses, but they’re also basically priceless experiences that should be viewed as public goods.
Unfortunately we haven't found a great way to price externalities correctly - whether the positive externalities of a local bookshop, or the negative externalities of online commerce.
Of course, there are negative externalities to local stores (people demand the right to drive there, for some odd reason, though Portland does better here than most), and positive externalities to online shopping (more efficient distribution, etc.) but regardless we do a terrible job at pricing them.
Re: Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
#17> by siphoning business from the real world and replacing it with internet commerce. I've got news for you, people want to order on a whim and have it arrive at their home the next day. If you don't offer that then people won't buy from you. In many parts of the world overgrown local busybodies have destroyed "high streets" in attempts to monetize drivers and pad their CV; driving people away.
I think next day is overrated. If something is important enough for you, surely most people should be willing to wait a few days e.g a week for it to arrive. It's not like you are going to finish that book the same day (usually).
Re: Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
#18> by siphoning business from the real world and replacing it with internet commerce. I've got news for you, people want to order on a whim and have it arrive at their home the next day. If you don't offer that then people won't buy from you. In many parts of the world overgrown local busybodies have destroyed "high streets" in attempts to monetize drivers and pad their CV; driving people away.
Personally I want to be able to travel somewhere nearby on a whim, hold a product in my hands, sometimes physically compare it to a competing product, then travel home with it on that very same day.
Re: Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
#19Many people go to physical stores, look for a product they like, then search it on Amazon.
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Re: Powell’s says it won’t sell books on Amazon anymore
#20> by siphoning business from the real world and replacing it with internet commerce. I've got news for you, people want to order on a whim and have it arrive at their home the next day. If you don't offer that then people won't buy from you. In many parts of the world overgrown local busybodies have destroyed "high streets" in attempts to monetize drivers and pad their CV; driving people away.
They do have a website. I would assume the problem is that nobody can compete with Amazons delivery network (and Prime) on price.
More than that, we also have the problem that many users look online on Amazon first.
For example, for online searches (in the UK), I try Amazon, Wordery, and Waterstones.com -- but usually Amazon first. If they don't have something or for some reason I feel I need to look elsewhere, I try the others.
Interestingly, for old or hard-to-find books, many people in the UK use BookDepository.com and AbeBooks -- guess what, both are owned by Amazon.
(I try to make up by visiting my local Waterstones regularly and more niche bookshops like Daunt when I can, but of course during the pandemic that's gone out of the window).