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Price competiion fuels Potter spat

18.07.07

The spat between Bloomsbury and Asda has arisen because of the intensely aggressive competition between retailers, reports the Guardian. The battle lines have been drawn over Harry Potter: "No major retailer can afford not to sell the book at a loss: Waterstone's, Amazon and WH Smith will charge £8.99."

The competition is now threatening the survival of independent booksellers, notes the Independent. "Independent retailers have entered the fray with complaints that they cannot compete with the discounting at supermarkets and larger chains. Some even say they will purchase stock from supermarkets rather than wholesalers and claim that nobody is making any money out of the distribution of Harry Potter."

A spokesman for Waterstone's tells the Guardian that pricing the book competitively encouraged new readers into bookshops. "You can't look at this as just one book," he said. "People will be buying more than one book, and it brings people into bookshops who do not normally come in. Each Harry Potter book is a long-term prospect, not just a one-day wonder."

Nevertheless, publishers have felt increasingly assailed by discount retailers attempting to use their financial muscle to negotiate better deals. The Independent notes: "If consumers can source the book they want more cheaply online and buy the latest bestseller half price from the supermarket, do independent booksellers still have a place, or indeed, a future in the post-Harry Potter world?"

Fran Crumpton, customer manager of the Book Partnership and localbookshops.co.uk, which represents almost 600 small retailers, agreed that independents are suffering from a lack of support from publishers and wholesalers combined with competition from supermarkets and online. However, she points out that local bookshops will survive due to their breadth and depth of knowledge and the flexibility they offer. Independents are willing to look beyond the more readily available books and show a greater understanding of customers' needs, which leads them to source from a wider range of titles than seem initially available, she says. Excellent service and the ability to sort out problems efficiently are key, along with the personality of the bookseller, which she says is "undoubtedly a factor in many customers' patronage".

 

Independent

harry potter Bloomsbury Asda

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