Half Price Books At Amazon
When I shop for books, Amazon provides me the best experience: I don’t have to move from my apartment, I can enjoy great discounts, and I can read the opinions of other readers before purchasing a book.
Let’s talk about this last feature: reading opinions of other readers. A brick and mortar establishment like Barnes & Nobles does not provide me any opportunity to read other people’s opinions, even if their cousins at www.bn.com have that information available.
Let’s talk about this last feature: reading opinions of other readers. A brick and mortar establishment like Barnes & Nobles does not provide me any opportunity to read other people’s opinions, even if their cousins at www.bn.com have that information available.
Obviously the conflict of interest within the same company prohibits that: if I was at a Barnes and Noble store and found a book that I was interested in, but saw on www.bn.com that the same book is 15% off, I would definitely stop buying books from the actual store…
On the other hand, there is another book store that could use this weapon against Amazon. There is a book chain called Half Price Books, where people can find incredible deals. Books are half price or less: it’s not rare to find virtually new hardcover books at $2!
On the other hand, there is another book store that could use this weapon against Amazon. There is a book chain called Half Price Books, where people can find incredible deals. Books are half price or less: it’s not rare to find virtually new hardcover books at $2!
Half Price Books also has the advantage of providing immediate satisfaction of a great bargain to customers: the books are not shipped few days later, but available right away. I love to walk into their stores and look around for great deals. The problem: I sometimes find great looking books at super cheap prices, but I am not sure about the quality of the book... I would love to read the opinions of other readers before committing to a purchase.
And here it comes, The Idea: Half Price Books could put a few terminals in the store with Amazon as the homepage and invite people to read the opinions available there. At the same time, the prospect could see the price of books on Amazon, which is always higher than Half Price Books.
Bottom line: if Half Price Books installed internet terminals in their stores with their homepage set on Amazon.com, this would further allow customers to tap into a valuable source of information that would support their buying decisions, as well as many others for a very cheap price. It would also provide a price comparison with Amazon that would show Half Price Books being cheaper. The cost of this experiment would be minimal: take one store, install a pc terminal, and monitor the behavior of clients and sales.
Readers, what do you think about it?
Mau in Italy
And here it comes, The Idea: Half Price Books could put a few terminals in the store with Amazon as the homepage and invite people to read the opinions available there. At the same time, the prospect could see the price of books on Amazon, which is always higher than Half Price Books.
Bottom line: if Half Price Books installed internet terminals in their stores with their homepage set on Amazon.com, this would further allow customers to tap into a valuable source of information that would support their buying decisions, as well as many others for a very cheap price. It would also provide a price comparison with Amazon that would show Half Price Books being cheaper. The cost of this experiment would be minimal: take one store, install a pc terminal, and monitor the behavior of clients and sales.
Readers, what do you think about it?
Mau in Italy
posted by Mau @ 1:45 PM
4 Comments:
That's a great idea. By the way, I would be just happy if a wireless internet connection was available inside the store for my laptop.
This is a really good idea. About once a month I go to Amazon.com and check to see if my favorite authors have a new book out. I always read the reader reviews and it does affect my purchases. I do not generally buy from Amazon.com because I am impatient and will run down to the local Hastings to buy. We do have a Half Price bookstore here and I do frequent it as well, maybe buying once a month or so.
Anonymous 1: yeah, wireless internet would be great, you are right. Then of course, they could rent space to Starbucks or any other coffee provider to sell some good drinks, it this would make them more profit than what the equivalent space would make with books.
Anonymous 2: I agree: the feeling of getting a bargain right away is great. I wish Half Price Books had an online inventory available by store...
Mau in Italy
Yiannis,
thank you for your kind words.
HalfPriceBooks has a good selection of books: I think you will not be disappointed visiting them.
Please keep your contributions coming: they make the blog more valuable for all the readers.
Mau in Taiwan
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