Amazon US slashes new release prices
In the US, Amazon began discounting new release print titles by up to 65% over the weekend, reports Shelf Awareness. The discounted titles come from a range of publishers and include Dan Brown’s Inferno (Bantam), which was discounted by 61% to US$11.65 and Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountain’s Echoed (Bloomsbury), which was discounted by 58% to US$12.04. According to Shelf Awareness, the discounts, which are much deeper than the usual 40-50% offered by Amazon, are in response to Overstock.com’s campaign beat Amazon’s prices by 10%. However, Shelf Awareness also reports speculation that Amazon has been ‘emboldened to engage in dramatic price cutting’ following the outcome of the Justice Department’s ebook pricing case against Apple and five publishers, and Wall Street’s continued acceptance of the company’s massive losses. Shelf Awareness also suggests that the company’s ‘boldness’ may come from its apparent close relationship with the Obama administration, which will be on display this week when the President gives a major economic speech at an Amazon warehouse in Tennessee. The move was interpreted by prominent New York bookseller Jack McKeown as an ‘open declaration of war against the industry’. However, Dennis Johnson from Melville House has argued that Amazon’s actions may bring some ‘cause for optimism’. ‘Could this be Amazon’s first major mistake? Is this the opportunity the industry has been waiting for to galvanise opposition and finally get the government to focus on the real monopoly in this industry?’, said Johnson.
Category: International news
