Book Price Wars and Fine Stationery: A Lesson
The New York Times reports that a price war is developing in the merchandising of books that threatens to destroy the industry. New York Times writer, Motoko Rich, says that a price war between Wal-Mart and Amazon accelerated on Friday with many bestsellers offered online at $8.99.
Writes Motoko Rich, “Publishers, booksellers, agents and authors, meanwhile, fretted that the battle was taking prices for certain hardcover titles so low that it could fundamentally damage the industry and ability of future authors to write or publish new works.” If you like Chainsaw Al, you’ve got to love Wal-Mart. Once Wal-Mart gets a stranglehold on an industry the resulting landscape will be as barren as Georgia after Sherman’s march to to the sea during the Civil War.
A similar, but not so dramatic, battle is taking place in the stationery industry. Yep! Wal-Mart has got its paw into this industry too, selling greeting cards for $0.46. American Greetings and many other greeting card companies are suffering by these predatory practices of Wal-Mart. As Wal-Mart pushes for the last cent from its suppliers to provide the “cheapest” product on the market, hundreds if not thousands of artisans, craftspeople, workers and families are displaced and marginalized by their practices.
While the current bestseller from Amazon, Wal-Mart and the town bookstore are identical, one might ask “why should I pay more?” I guess it is for the same reason why discerning consumers pay more for “green” energy: they are concerned by the implications of their purchasing decisions. I think it would be a stretch of credulity to assume that Wal-Mart really cares about the future generations of authors, craftspeople and artisans that no longer can support themselves in an industry dessimated by Wal-Mart. I guess these would-be artisans will be obliged to lay down their paint brushes, sell their Heidelberg presses and donate their book-binding tools to museums and become sales clerks at Wal-Mart.
As a stationer, I see many inferior designs and poor paper quality touted as “fine stationery” by online marketing companies and their paid internet marketing mercenaries who shamelessly promote their brand in social media channels. Stationers and Fine Paper companies simply must do a far better job in “educating” the consumer that there is more to fine stationery than a disingenous advertising ploy.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:38 am
I don’t think Wal-Mart’s entry into the greeting-card market will make a difference to high-end producers or retailers. The market for artisan cards has always been limited just because only a certain sector of the population has been willing to spend extra for quality. I think it’s worth the cost to find something interesting, meaningful and memorable and have been told a multitude of times that it’s noticed; to (possibly unfairly) generalize, Wal-Mart clientele probably doesn’t see it that way, and newly impoverished selective customers either will decide to economize on cards or not regardless of what Wal-Mart does.
October 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I would agree with Caroline that it’s likely Wal-mart won’t make a difference to high end retailers when it comes to cards. By offering $0.46 cards, they are competing with American Greetings/Hallmark that offer the cheap cheesy cards. Now, both have a place, but the customers that my store caters to are looking for something extra special. They understand that the cards we carry are special in some way, are understated and lack a mushy greeting so they must write their own. We have many people come looking not only for cheap cards, but also for ones that have the exact sentiment they are looking for so all they have to do is sign the card. That’s not what we are about and it’s not the customer we cater to. And you wouldn’t believe how many of the customers we cater to comment about the beautiful cards we carry and only come to our store for cards because we have the nicest selection they’ve ever seen! Those are the customers we want to serve and Wal-mart can’t touch them. They are people who may be aware of the price, but don’t really care because they want a card they’re sure the friend/family member/business colleague hasn’t received from anyone else. Our prices for cards range from $1.95 to $8.99 per card, the average being about $6. Thank you to the people who want something nice and appreciate the people who work hard to make beautiful cards!
October 24th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
You both are right on target. People who recognize the importance of sending a “special” card will continue to seek out fine stationers and specialty stores that sell unique cards. Seven years ago, we (Therese Saint Clair) donated our entire collection of individual greeting cards to charity (some 5,000 cards). Today, we only carry Constance Kay’s hand-made cards and a few letterpress cards from Oblation and BDesigns and Meri Meri. We think these stylish greeting cards are far more attractive than the cards sold at the supermarket or local car-wash. Thankfully, our customers feel the same way.