Apparently, Harry Potter is too busy casting off evil forces and protecting humanity to fret over the little guys. Well, perhaps Mr. Potter himself is not to blame for the marginal profits small booksellers will receive with the July 21 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but some wicked wizardry must be behind the bookstores’ woes.
According to a Business Week article, many independent bookstores will gain nothing from the highly anticipated release thanks to price slashing by mega-retailers such as Amazon.com and Wal-Mart. In fact, Amazon and Wal-Mart will not make any profit from the book release either, as they will be cutting prices of the book up to 50 percent. But that’s fine by them as long as reduced prices bring in new customers who will buy other books and goods.
While some independent booksellers will retaliate price cuts with midnight book releases complete with costumes and decorations, there is no magic spell that would let them compete with the mammoth companies who have commandeered the final Potter release.
Posted by Grant Thomas on June 27, 2007 12:49 PM
