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Overstock has said it will permanently match Amazon’s discounted book prices.
The US online retailer launched a promotion last month offering its customers 10% of Amazon prices on its 360,000 book catalogue. But Amazon then matched the price promotion, which led to unusually low prices for hardback books.
Overstock chief executive Patrick Byrne has now told the Wall Street Journal Overstock will match all Amazon’s prices on books, even though he admitted the company lost $11,000 a day doing the July promotion.
Byrne said: “We think with the rise in sales volume, we can extract better [wholesale] pricing from publishers. Publishers do want to see more competition for Amazon.”
Overstock, which also shops to the UK, has publically stated it does not wish to harm trade for independent booksellers with its Amazon price-matching strategy. To attempt to protect bookshops, it is offering its $19.95-a-year ‘Club O’ members 15% in reward dollars for book purchases.
Byrne said: “Last month we started a book pricing war with Amazon. We're hoping to continue that battle, in a way that lessens any harm to the mom-and-pop booksellers we consider our comrades in arms."