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Independent booksellers say they are benefiting from a growing backlash against Amazon following high-profile media coverage of the retailer's corporation tax avoidance.
David Dawkins, bookseller at Pages of Hackney, said: "We have certainly seen a small influx of new customers who say they want to be an ethical consumer and are just not happy with Amazon anymore. It is great to see." Morag Watkins from Chorleywood Bookshop, who has displayed the Booksellers Association's "We Pay Our Taxes” posters in her window, said: "A significant number of customers have said: 'We are taking the decision to shop with you rather than Amazon'."
Rosamund de la Hay from The Mainstreet Trading Company in St Boswells commented: "One woman who was sending gifts to Australia and New Zealand to her family said she wanted to use us rather than Amazon. I said: 'Are you sure? This is going to cost a lot in postage from us' but she said she wanted to support her independent bookseller because she was outraged by Amazon’s behaviour."
Frances and Keith Smith from Warwick and Kenilworth Books have created a petition at change.org calling for Amazon to pay its taxes. In their appeal for signatures, they say: “We face unrelenting pressure from huge online retailers undercutting prices, in particular Amazon, and it's pushing businesses like ours to the brink…We pay our taxes and so should they - please take a stand with us and tell Amazon to pay their fair share. Until they do, please consider purchasing from local, independent shops instead.”
Amazon's low-price reputation has also come under fire in a report by consultancy Simon Kucher. The study claimed Amazon had a "classic supermarket strategy" in only offering the best prices on the top 20 bestsellers, with lower-ranked titles offered at 14% higher than the lowest price available online elsewhere. An Amazon spokesperson refuted the claim, saying: "We aim to offer competitive prices on every book that we list." However the report demonstrates that in the top 100 chart over the 10-day period between 31st October and 9th November, Abebooks.co.uk, owned by Amazon, had the lowest price on a majority of titles outside the top 20, with W H Smith beating Amazon on the price of at least seven titles, while matching it on seven.