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Home 
Research Themes
In Focus
Digital Tranformations I: Digital Evolution and New Publishing Models January 2007
Marketplace Organization |
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Table of Contents
Introduction The Changing Nature of Book Production The Book (and the universe of books) Transforming Marketplace Organization For Future Consideration All Resources Marketplace Organization The impact of a single national big-box-dominant bookstore chain on book access and on the book-publishing industry remains a work in progress. Such operations require vast computerization; inventory management is effectively beyond human capacity. Given the scale of operations, the handling of low-selling books and publishers with few titles is probably uneconomic. Such large-scale retail operations require products with marketing push and guaranteed sell-through levels. There is a vast array of titles (e.g., children’s and regional titles) that are inadequately represented by such operations even though they may be served by large online operations. Driven out of business by the overbuilding of big-box stores, the trusted quality bookseller or book advisor is a figure that may re-emerge in the book world. The existence of high numbers of book clubs, the phenomenal success of talk-show hosts in driving sales, and the consistently identified influence of friends on what people read, suggests this emergence. The computerization of product information and sales has made possible the collection of point-of-sale data that should decrease the colossal inefficiency of returns from retailers to publishers. No doubt, BookNet Canada’s data show increased high-volume sales for a few titles (enhanced by centralized marketing by the publisher and coordinated promotion by the bookseller) and few but continuing sales for the majority of titles. Dubbed the “long-tail phenomenon,” this infrequent but continuing demand for heterogeneity contributes to a pluralistic society and freedom of thought. However, it is not adequately addressed by national chains of predominantly large format bookstores, especially when they are almost monopsonies. With such data in hand, publishers are also beginning to rationalize their relationship with retailers. Selling directly to the reader from a company’s own website can greatly generate a publisher’s net revenue. For Future Consideration |
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