As Amazon purchases the UK-based on-line bookstore The Book Depository, UK publishers are up in arms over the move. Already none too happy with Amazon—just look at how quick they were to jump on the agency pricing bandwagon for e-books, only a few years after ditching a century-long similar price control on printed books—both large and independent publishers are now calling for an investigation into the practice of on-line bookselling in general.
The Bookseller reports that the Publishers Association and the Independent Publishers Guild are collaborating on a submission to the Office of Fair Trade, in response to its call for public comment on the proposed merger.
[Richard Mollet, c.e.o. of the Publishers Association,] said more should be done to investigate the fairness of the market share internet-only retailers have in comparison to physical bookshops. He said: "Whatever the decision in this particular case, we feel it is high time that competition authorities took a closer interest in the developments of the book retail market—especially given that data from BML shows that internet-only retailers have 31% of the retail market by value, and growing."
The article points out that the OFT has “the power to investigate markets that do not appear to be meeting the needs of consumers,” but I have to wonder whether that investigation is really going to turn anything up. If Internet-only retailers have almost a third of the market and show no signs of stopping, wouldn’t that mean they’re “meeting the needs of consumers” better than the physical bookstores? It’s not as if they’re coercing consumers at gunpoint into ordering books from them.
Publishers are, of course, worried that if Amazon becomes the 800-lb gorilla it bids fair to do, it can then demand concessions from them or refuse to carry their products. And this may even be a justifiable concern. But on the other hand, it’s unclear what the solution might be, if there even is one—the rapid adoption of these sites by consumers shows that they prefer the convenience of on-line buying, even if the publishers fear the power it might place in e-tailers’ hands. Business models march on, and older businesses have to find a way to keep up or get left behind.
