Anodyne
Friday, November 09, 2007
 
Effective immediately, all new books bearing a US$ price sold at Pulpfiction Books will be sold at par. Books bearing a single Canadian price, and books bearing a dual UK/CDN price will, as always, remain priced at 20% off the Canadian price.

This seems to me to be a more reasonable solution than the strategy employed by many of my larger competitors, a very Canadian solution, which involves posting a sign -- 40% exchange rate, many complexities, "our publisher partners," Canadian cultural industry, national survey, letter-writing campaign, close our doors, boo-hoo, boo-hoo, yak yak woof -- and then abandoning the front-line retail staff to irritated customers who aren't stupid.

I was recently in an [LOCAL SUBURBAN NEW BOOK CHAIN] outlet in the White Rock mall. The mall was packed. Not a single soul disturbed my twenty minute browse in the shop. Everything was full price, hardcover bestsellers included. This policy was defended by large signs posted front and center, crying the blues. LSNBC's management is, of course, free to set whatever price they like for their books, just as I am equally free to conclude that they have never studied the price elasticity of demand and might as well replace their signs with a simpler phrase: GOING OUT OF BUSINESS, EVERYTHING MUST GO.
- posted by cjb @ 10:50 AM


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