Re: The Power of the Potter (no spoilers)

Zeborah wrote:
Charlton Wilbur <cwilbur@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"Z" == Zeborah <zeborah@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

Z> For groceries one can sell a staple, eg milk, at a loss in the
Z> hope that it'll get people into the store where they'll buy the
Z> rest of their groceries and give you a profit.

Z> I wouldn't expect this to work to the same extent for books,
Z> though it may work sufficiently well (combined with the
Z> customer loyalty thing) to be worth doing.

I suspect that the thinking is that the book is going to sell in
volume, and it's better to earn $2 per copy and sell a thousand copies
than to earn $15 a copy and sell a hundred.


As long as you are earning $2 per copy and not -$2 per copy.

For books even the -2 per copy is okay, if you end up with repeat customers that will, in the long haul, be buying lots of books over the next several years. Especially if your competitor is making $2 per copy, but he's only getting 100 people in his doors and you're getting 800 in yours. $1600 (the loss) is utter chickenfeed to you as the bookstore owner, and if only 1/100th of those become repeat customers who show up in your store once a month, or even just do a lot of buying every Christmas, it's a big profit.


--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com

.

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