The Lost Symbol: The Real Losers

My inbox is full of emails from internet retailers trying to convince me to pre-order the newly announced Dan Brown novel for half price.

Half price? How very generous of them, especially when they don't yet know what discounts they will be getting from the publisher when they buy it. They might end up making very little money indeed on the transaction.

But, let's face it, half price is going to seem bloody expensive by the time the book is actually published in September. I'd bet anything that the supermarkets go below that, perhaps way below that, in an attempt to lure customers into their stores where they hope they will spend money on higher margin items like bananas, toilet cleaner and cotton buds.

With Harry Potter now off shagging whoever it is he ended up with in the final book, the supermarkets will, I am pretty sure, jump on any 'event' title with glee and do their level best to sell as many copies as possible. And love him or loathe him, a new book from Dan Brown is definitely an event.

At least, it is for the retailers who are prepared to discount the arse out of it. It will be a complete non-event for all independent bookshops. They will probably get a better deal by purchasing their stock from their local Asda than bothering with the publisher or wholesalers. Many will buy just one or two copies, some won't bother to stock it at all.

Is that a problem? Does it really matter? Certainly it feels wrong that a major new book, one that could well sell millions in the opening few weeks, will bring little or no benefit to hundreds of bookshops who either can't compete on price or, if they do, won't make any money from it. But that is just the way of things now. We can moan about it all we want but do we stop buying loo roll on special offer from Tesco because we feel sorry for the nice man at the corner shop? No, we are happy to wipe our arses on a good deal. It is the same with books. If someone wants to use The Lost Symbol as a loss leader then what that actually means is that hundreds of thousands of avid readers will snap up a bargain, save some vital pounds during difficult economic times and they certainly won't be losing any sleep over some chap in an independent bookshop who is being priced out of the game, no matter how attractive the carpet or pleasant the staff.

Forget about it. Move on. This is going to happen with every major blockbuster. The sort of books we are talking about stop being books and become something else. They are the new hot commodity, the latest fad. They are Delia's cranberries or Beyblades or GoGos. Everyone wants a piece of them and are prepared to use them to entice people into their emporiums to buy other things. If that rules out the more traditional retailer then that is just tough. It isn't fair, it doesn't really help but it is the way things are and they aren't going to change.

Comments

[Richard]

That's fine until Asda have removed the competition entirely. Then once the independents have been wiped from the high street they will simply up their prices and we can't go anywhere else. That IS their master plan and it is working pretty well so far.

[Scott Pack]

Do you really think Asda will remove the competition entirely? That's interesting.

I accept, as the post points out, that the supermarkets will effectively kill the competition on major event titles but they are rubbish when it comes to anything outside of their set range.

This week thousands of people will be buying books on the Orange shortlist, or books featured on Start The Week, Open Book, Simon Mayo or other titles that have captured the imagination. Supermarkets will only be stocking a small percentage of these, many of the books won't ever see the inside of a supermarket.

Unless supermarkets start stocking serious literary fiction, heavyweight non-fiction, and a broader and more eclectic range of deep backlist they cannot possibly drive specialist booksellers out of business.

Correction, they can't drive professional, imaginative and vibrant specialist booksellers out of business.

I am guessing that Crockatt & Powell and The Big Green Bookshop aren't remotely fussed about the Dan Brown pricing.

[Alistair]

To register your disgust check out the #icouldntgiveoneflying****aboutthenewdanbrown on Twitter

[Chris Nichol]

Scott - your response to Richard's comment does of course make some sense - until you read the news that Sainsbury's is to increase its range: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/82973-sainsburys-steps-up-space-for-books-.html

The question then becomes what range do the supermarkets have to stock to become a real danger to independents? My guess is that it isn't going to have to be that big. Would it be worth the bigger supermarkets going for this in an effort to get rid of the independents - probably not. The independents are a pimple on their backside. I guess they care about taking sales from other supermarkets most.

[Scott Pack]

Chris, you are absolutely right, supermarkets won't have given a thought about indie bookshops. I doubt the subject has ever come up in any discussion a supermarket buying team has ever had. Any impact they have on them will not be targeted or 'deliberate'.

But will an increased range in Sainsbury's really impact on indie booksellers? I don't have a Sainsbury's anywhere near me so it makes no difference to my shopping habits. And will Sainsbury's stock Naked Lunch, The Magus, the SciFi Masterworks series, Phaidon art books, US imports, poetry?

Price does matter and any new or increased activity that is led by price will make some sort of difference but customers are also influenced by service, ambience, proximity. convenience, recommendation etc.

Until you can stop a member of staff in Tesco and ask them to suggest what you should read next having loved Shadow of the Wind, the specialist bookshops have a significant fighting chance.

[Chas Newkey-Burden]

V interesting post.

[Haarlson Phillipps]

I can see the day when Tesco's (and/or Sainsbury's/waitrose etc) have staff who are able to recommend follow-up reads. Back in the day supermarkets sold yellow, red and blue cheese - all the usual British suspects. Then you could buy the yellow rubbery stuff from Ireland, Canada and Australia - very exotic. Now you can ask the cheese counter manager for tips on artisan made cheeses from France, Italy, Spain etc etc. "I'd like that goat brie I had last week - have you got anything a little grassier, you know, a bit nuttier..." Are cheesemongers worried? No, because as you say, Scott, selling product is not just about price. However, while independent chessemongers may not be concerned - the supermarkets did take down a lot of independent grocers who used to sell half-decent cheese, real smoked bacon and local, organic eggs on the way to their over-weening dominance in the UK food business. It's about mix, range and availability. I think outlets like W.H. Smith's and Borders should be more concerned.

[Haarlson Phillipps]

Sorry - last line of my comment above should read: I think middle of the road outlets like W.H. Smith's and Borders should be more concerned.

[Scott Pack]

I like the cheese comparison, and it is a very good point. I do believe that supermarkets are having an impact on the wider book marker, of course they are. I just think that on books like this the indies are well out of it and won't ever be able to find a way back.

[George Stirling]

Isn't it time we had a version of the Robinson Patman Act? It won't stop loss leaders, but it would stop the big players demanding bigger discounts than their smaller competitors. And if such a law exists in the land of free trade...

[Richard]

Scott: "Do you really think Asda will remove the competition entirely?"

They have the potential. And with bookshops struggling to cope with the likes of Amazon it only takes a small but concerted effort to make them crumble. Supermarkets are responsible for the loss of high street butchers, bakers, fishmongers, Woolworths (IMO)and more. Bookshops are already suffering from the 'Asda effect'.

[Iain Mullen]

My main issue with the title is - it's a feckin hardback! Over here we're looking at €20 retail, whyohwhyohwhy. What really is the point of the format for what is pulp fiction? In these recessionary times €20 is hardly an impulse purchase. Tesco are gonna be the lead discounters over here & if HP7 is anything to go by then we might see 'sensible' discounting by the multiples eg €17/18.99.
As indies though we will win on event campaigning, Tesco & the like will just pile 'em high, indie punters will always benefit from the experience of 'an event'.
Naive, maybe, but if the indie market plays to it's strengths then there will be big winners in the indie market during the downturn.

[John Self]

As Haarlson Phillips says, it's not the independents who are likely to suffer as the chain bookstores. It's already happened in music retailing. If I want to buy a new CD on the day of release, I can choose from two supermarkets within a mile or two of home, otherwise I have to go into town to buy it at HMV. Tesco closed down our local bookseller/stationer in my nearest shopping centre as they couldn't compete with Tesco on price (or so the manager said).

"We can moan about it all we want but do we stop buying loo roll on special offer from Tesco because we feel sorry for the nice man at the corner shop?"

Actually I do. I don't shop in Tesco any more, or Amazon, both because of reports of dodgy practices but also because they're too damn big and crush the competition. They can enter any new field of business and undercut everyone else because of their economies of scale. Does it matter that we are well on the way to the world of Wall-E, with Tesco as the Buy'N'Large corporation? I think it does. Tesco now have pharmacies - goodbye Boots. And soon retail banks (though we might be grateful for that right now). It may be survival of the fittest for Tesco to be able to undercut everyone else and reduce the competition, but I don't think it's either terribly just or portends a good future for the High Street and local community shops.

People always want things cheaper of course, and Tesco have no doubt shaken up a good few lazy and greedy smaller businesses, but the idea that people are entitled to have everything at a lower price just because Tesco can afford to wring that reduction out of the suppliers is absurd.

It's only belatedly that I've come to realise the importance of having actual shops in my local community and city centre and have stopped buying online where possible. Now if I want a book I will first of all check if my local Waterstone's have it, and if they don't, order it from Jonathan at Bookseller Crow.

[Jeannette from Brussels]

Count me with John S.... Dan Brown or no Dan Brown, I'm going to keep supporting the independent retailer. I will pay more for nice TP because it is softer and I like the quilting. Going too often for the so-called best deal, which is only ever based on money, that's what has gotten us into the mess we are in. So no, I'm not going to forget about it. I'm going to do my best to keep the things I think are important.