| Cyber-Doom Delayed Again By: David J. Wardell
© 1999 By: David J. Wardell.
Reproduction or redistribution in any form without written permission is strictly
prohibited. |
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| The September 18, 1999 issue of
The Economist points out that, contrary to the views of those folks who
believe Amazon.com and its fellows will put bookstores out of business
(once they start making money that is), Waterstone’s of the UK recently
opened the world’s largest bookstore in London. Seven floors now house
250,000 titles and 1.5 million books. Further, the article points out, the
new store is next door to Hatchards, which is a "mere five-storey
bookshop" and less than a mile from the huge Borders in Oxford
Street.
So much for the theory that things online automatically displace everything else. You might not have noticed, but the cyber-pundits have recently embraced the notion that perhaps traditional businesses and facilities can after all play a meaningful role in the online service delivery model after all. The few voices in the wilderness that didn’t succumb to Internet Hysteria (myself included) have been trying to tell them that for the last five years. In reality, service delivery isn’t as simple as the online models would have you believe, and there are numerous sectors and components with roles to play, both in the book and the travel businesses. There’s substantial turmoil in book retailing that, in several ways, is very similar to travel. The emergence of new huge bookstores is partly driven by changes in pricing policies over the pew years (sounds a bit like travel), and also partly by the current trend to turn bookstores into a form of leisure destination in their own right (complete with cafes, live music, and other trimmings). Only some of this is directly attributable to online sales. As in travel, small book retailers are struggling to find a place--but "bricks and mortar" are alive and well in both worlds. |
