Much like the book-scanners we talked about yesterday, Amazon's innovation was to bring a ruthless focus on business tactics to the world of books. Amazon got where they are today thanks in large part to their "take no prisoners" approach to the market, which is why so many people hate them, and why so many people buy their books there.

 

One particularly loathsome practice which has been steadily growing is that of shoppers using their smartphones to comparison-shop while they are at the bookstore. These people treat the bookstore as a showroom of sorts. They browse the stacks, find the books they want to buy, then stand there in the aisle and look up the price on Amazon. If Amazon has a better price, they buy the book from Amazon and walk out.

Store owners are understandably frustrated by this practice. You can discuss it in terms of pure economic theory: in order to compete with Amazon, bookstores have to bring something extra to the table that Amazon can't (or won't). There are many benefits to a physical bookstore (serendipity, getting a latte, asking for help) but clearly customers aren't willing to pay for those things (by buying their book at that store).

 

From the perspective of economic theory, these customers are just being savvy shoppers. They take what the physical stores give away for free (assistance, location, browseability) then purchase the cheapest version of the item. It's perfectly understandable, particularly for a die-hard penny-pincher like myself. In fact, 39% of people surveyed reported that they bought a book at Amazon after looking at it in a physical bookstore first. 

 

But seriously, doing this makes you a bad person. 

 

We can argue that bookstores are relying too heavily on guilt, and not heavily enough on their own business and economic tactics. And I agree, frankly. But that doesn't change the fact that browsing at a bookstore then buying online makes you a heel. 

 

And now Amazon is encouraging this bad behavior!

 

Today is Price Check Day. Download Amazon's Price Check app, scan an item at a local store, then buy it on Amazon, and Amazon will give you up to $5 off the price of that item. This is not only encouraging people to do this sort of comparison shopping, it's also adding to Amazon's database of regional prices. (Which, conspiracy theories and logic suggest Amazon will one day use to customize prices based on your address.)

 

Amazon sure does make it hard to be a fan, don't they?