{"id":965,"date":"2013-07-30T16:05:56","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T23:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=965"},"modified":"2013-07-30T16:05:56","modified_gmt":"2013-07-30T23:05:56","slug":"amazon-and-the-independents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/07\/amazon-and-the-independents\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon and the independents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"can<\/a>Two stories linked by artsjournal.com<\/a> today about Amazon: gigaom.com<\/a> (?) on how Amazon is further cutting prices on hardbacks, and the American Booksellers Association<\/a> upset that President Obama held a major speech on jobs at an Amazon warehouse.<\/p>\n

Observations:<\/p>\n

First, while I possess no special insights into what goes on behind closed doors at Amazon, the evidence is certainly that their pricing strategy is all about market share<\/a>. And I have always had trouble understanding what motivates this goal. Maximizing profits, I can understand, and that’s how I teach pricing. Relentless price-cutting to gain market share makes less sense to me<\/a>. I am skeptical of the strategy of ‘we will drive all of our competitors out of business, and then, as a monopoly, drastically raise prices again!’ because I don’t see how that goal can ever be accomplished. There will always be other booksellers, or potential booksellers, waiting to jump into the market should the opportunity arise. Maybe one day I will be proven wrong, but when is that day supposed to come?<\/p>\n

Second, I have to question the critique by the American Booksellers Association, who make it all about jobs:<\/p>\n

All told, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, every $10 million in spending that shifts from Main Street retailers to Amazon results in a net loss of 33 retail jobs. That would mean for 2012 alone \u2014 using Amazon\u2019s own numbers about its increase in sales \u2014 Amazon cost the U.S. economy more than 42,000 jobs just last year!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not the way to mount an attack on Amazon. If they can deliver books to consumers using less labor to do so, that’s a good thing! Economies do not flourish by looking for mechanisms to deliver services that require more labor than necessary.<\/p>\n

Have any of these booksellers ever used an ATM? I’ll bet they have. I was a bank teller when ATM’s were first introduced, and the chatter at our bank was about how this would reduce the need for so many tellers. Maybe it did (or maybe teller jobs shifted into other, personal-finance jobs in the bank, instead of handling basic $200 withdrawals from checking accounts). But who today would say that the jobs policy we need is to eliminate ATMs?<\/p>\n

The booksellers are correct that sales taxes ought to be equally applied to Amazon purchases as to those made in brick-and-mortar stores.<\/p>\n

But otherwise, they need to think about how to ensure their stores are valuable to customers. It’s not about preserving jobs for people who work in independent stores, it’s about making the case that these stores are good for consumers too. Like most people, I buy books both ways – Amazon, and my local corner book store, each have their strengths. But don’t knock Amazon for getting books to consumers quickly and cheaply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two stories linked by artsjournal.com today about Amazon: gigaom.com (?) on how Amazon is further cutting prices on hardbacks, and the American Booksellers Association upset that President Obama held a major speech on jobs at an Amazon warehouse. Observations: First, while I possess no special insights into what goes on behind closed doors at Amazon, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-issues","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-fz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1617,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/10\/amazon-and-monopoly-encore\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":0},"title":"Amazon and monopoly: encore (updated)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"October 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The debate that won't die. I've posted on whether Amazon is a monopoly (it isn't) here and here. Today Joe Nocera joins Matt Yglesias and Annie Lowrey in his critique of Franklin Foer's New Republic article that tries to claim dangerous monopoly powers at Amazon. Artsjournal.com blog neighbor Scott Timberg\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"still don't need it","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1050,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/is-amazon-good-for-readers\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":1},"title":"Is Amazon good for readers?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoyed George Packer's New Yorker article on Amazon, and recommend it. ArtsJournal's link to the story has the heading \"Is Amazon good for books? Not just publishers, but books themselves?\" The New Yorker's own sub-heading is \"Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books?\" I find\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/is-amazon-good-for-readers\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"good for this reader","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1548,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/09\/this-is-not-censorship\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":2},"title":"This is not censorship (updated, again)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times reports on authors forming a group to back publisher Hachette in its quest to have Amazon.com charge consumers higher prices for books. A literary agent is quoted: \u201cIt\u2019s very clear to me, and to those I represent, that what Amazon is doing is very detrimental to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"this is censored","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/dream-of-ding-village.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1557,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/10\/is-amazon-com-a-monopoly\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":3},"title":"Is Amazon.com a monopoly? (updated October 10)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"October 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In a comment on my previous post, on Amazon and what I saw as overheated rhetoric regarding censorship, BobG wrote: Arguing over a definition of censorship is avoiding the actual issue. Amazon IS making it difficult to get certain books (that\u2019s their announced strategy) and they are poised to become\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"still don't need it","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1418,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/07\/summer-books-brad-stones-the-everything-store\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":4},"title":"Summer books: Brad Stone’s ‘The Everything Store’","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the past few months there are few businesses that have come in for such vilification as Amazon.com - including in many of the stories and blogs here at artsjournal.com - and so Brad Stone's book, subtitled 'Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon', is timely, to say the least.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/07\/summer-books-brad-stones-the-everything-store\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"a difficult case","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/everything-store-193x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":785,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/05\/amazon-and-economic-impact-eitheror\/","url_meta":{"origin":965,"position":5},"title":"Amazon and economic impact: either\/or","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"May 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Daily Telegraph reports: Amazon\u2019s UK operation generated \u00a34.2bn of sales last year, but it used a subsidiary in Luxembourg to help it reduce its corporation tax bill in the country to just \u00a32.4m in 2012. According to documents filed at Companies House, the company received \u00a32.5m in government handouts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ABB - Brilon, Werkseroffnung","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/ribbon-300x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}