Post: Reading the Signs [link to post]

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Nice summation post.

I expect that as DVDs (movies) move to a cost-effective and efficient electronic distribution model, the same type of ‘used physical marketplace’ will sprout up with even more strength than is seen today.

I really hope people aren’t replacing reading with YouTube, Facebook, and gaming, but I fear you may be right… these online activities are sucking up a lot of time for some people. Perhaps instead of six books a year they’re now down to four, which would be a really sad average.

1) Books being sold by the big box stores – the Wal-marts and the Costcos. These stores have an excellent selection of the recent best sellers in fiction and non-fiction. If the family unit can pick up the occassional book while replenishing the larder, there is less incentive for the special trip to the dedicated bookstore.

2) Less people reading books. There is a growing percentage of people, who instead of reaching for a book; will now reach for… Youtube, a blog, Facebook, MSDN, an online game (World of Warcraft and/or Poker).

I do wonder as well if used bookstores will become more common in similar models to Aqua Books in Winnipeg, which somewhat breaks the mold for a used bookstore — they hold author readings and events, have a restaurant on-site, and features well-organized shelves of books. I could see people purchasing books online and recycling them into used shops, which have another type of clientelle again: those who enjoy books and collecting books.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all develops in the next five years.

I think that you’ve hit the nail on the head with your analysis of the cause of this company’s failure. While they may not have been the first to succumb to the challenge of online retailers, they are (sadly) one of the last simply due to the lack of alternatives in the Canadian market.

Coles, Chapters and Indigo Books are all owned by Heather Reisman. I don’t know of any other national bookseller chains in Canada. If it wasn’t for Amazon.ca keeping Heather honest, the prices and service in Canada would surely falter. As it is one wonders if Ms. Reisman’s operations are turning any sort of profit because it is true that the world has changed and continues to change in how we purchase books. With all of Amazon.ca’s cross-subsidization and incredible capacity to undercut any new competitor, one wonders what the future holds for current or new domestic book retailers.

I’ve read in a number of places the Amazon is reporting that it sold more ebooks than physical books this last Christmas season. If that is indeed true, I’d suggest that this is a watershed event, marking the beginning of the end of the primary format for publishing being physical books. We will also surely see the end of paper-based newspapers in favour of an electronic version once a decent eNewspaper reader is developed in the next decade.

I must be getting old because this type of change to our world is something that I’m not looking forward to. Physical books and newspapers are something that I’m surely going to miss.