Did Sears Just Whoop Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Target in the Book-Price War?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

BY Chris Dannen

Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 1:18 PM

digg_url = 'http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/did-sears-just-win-book-price-war'; digg_skin = 'compact'; Last week, Wal-Mart cut the price of some popular new books to just $10, a slice of over 60%. Not willing to be out-done on home turf, Amazon matched them. Wal-Mart went down to $9. Amazon went to $8.99. Target jumped in tardily at $8.99. Then Sears jaunted into the battle and dropped some serious knowledge: books for free.
How? Buy any one of those deep-discounted books at Target, Wal-Mart, or Amazon, and send Sears the receipt at [readamerica@customerservice.sears.com], and they'll give you a credit of $9 towards anything you buy from Sears online.
Sears says this is part of some campaign called "Keep America Reading," which would be more appropriately called "Keep America Buying Books." And buy books they'll do, if the $10 price point sticks past the holiday rush.
So what does this do to indie bookshops, struggling as they already are? Well, it might actually help them, according to PubLunch, which reports:
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"Boulder Bookstore buyer Arsen Kashkashian has suggested via Twitter that fellow indies cancel their publisher pre-orders on these deep-discounted forthcoming titles and take advantage of their competitors' loss leaders. Bookstores will save money, he reasons, while helping Amazon and Walmart.com lose more."
Related Stories:

• Is Amazon the New Wal-Mart?
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Topics: Innovation, sears, books, online, retail, publishing, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Sears Holding Corporation, Target Corporation, Arsen Kashkashian

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