¶ … Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com are two of the most popular American-based online book vendors. While Amazon.com is by far more entrenched in the international book selling market, within North America, these two huge online retailers offer competitive prices and similar services. A direct comparison of ten best sellers can illustrate how these two major vendors: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon; I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe; The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth; The Broker by John Grisham; Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides; Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata; French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano; Blink by Malcolm Gladwell; and God's Politics by Jim Wallace. These books are not based on the New York Times best seller list. Therefore, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com list different titles as being best sellers. The reason for different books selling faster than others might be due to pricing or because of the demographics of each vendor's clientele. The following is a detailed breakdown of the ten titles mentioned above, indicating pricing trends between the two book vendors:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a paperback fiction novel also available in hardcover or as an audio book. The trade paperback edition sells for $9.80 on Amazon.com, a sale price that is significantly marked down from the list price of $14. A customer shopping on Amazon.com will save about $4.20, a 30% discount on the list price. The book is exactly the same price on BarnesandNoble.com.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon has a list price is $12 on both websites. However, on Amazon.com, shoppers can purchase the book at the sale price of $9, whereas BarnesandNoble.com sells the paperback edition of the novel for $10.80.
Tom Wolfe's novel I Am Charlotte Simmons is brand new and therefore only available in hardcover. The list price is $28.95 on both sites. Amazon.com sells the book at a remarkable 60% discount, for a sale price of $11.58. BarnesandNoble's sale price is $20.26, only 30% off the publisher's list price. In this case, the price difference between the two vendors is enough so that customers would be more willing to buy the product from Amazon.com.
Phillip Roth's novel The Plot Against America is also only available in hardcover right now. The list price is $26. As with previously mentioned fiction titles, Amazon.com offers greater savings over its competitor: the book is $17.68 on Amazon.com, compared with $18.20 on BarnesandNoble.com. While the difference is relatively small, it might be enough for BarnesandNoble.com to lose customers to Amazon.com.
The Broker by John Grisham lists for $27.95. It sells for $18.45 on Amazon.com and $19.56 on BarnesandNoble.com. Similar pricing trends are evident in Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, which sells for $3.20 cheaper on Amazon.com than on BarnesandNoble.com. The list price for the paperback edition of that novel is $15, and it sells for $10.20 on Amazon.com and $13.50 on BarnesandNoble.com. Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata lists for $15.95. Amazon.com sells the hardcover edition for $10.85, or 32% off; BarnesandNoble sells the same item for $11.16.
French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano has a list price of $22. It sells for $14.96 on Amazon.com and $15.40 on BarnesandNoble.com. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell has a list price of $25.95. Amazon.com offers 34% off for a sale price of $17.13. BarnesandNoble.com offers the book for $18.16. Finally, God's Politics by Jim Wallace lists for $24.95. Amazon.com offers the hardcover edition for $16.47, whereas at Barnesandnoble.com, the sale price is $17.46.
Based on the above information, Amazon.com just manages to undercut its competitor, by a small percentage but one that might be large enough to attract customers away from BarnesandNoble.com. List prices for books are universal; those are the prices printed on the product by the publisher. Retailers have the option of pricing their materials lower if they choose. Both websites offer free shipping on orders over $25 and both vendors also have clubs through which members can save more money on products.
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