Interview: Effects of Sears Entering Online Bookselling Price War

Sears has announced today that it is throwing it's hat into the race for Internet bookselling dominance. Sears is making a direct play against Target, Walmart, and Amazon. Now things look even bleaker for the small independent bookstores that I have been reporting on. If you have not read the first article in this series, you may read it here.

According to the press release by Sears, you can receive up to a $4 credit for proving a purchase of a qualified books title at either Sears.com, Target.com, Walmart.com, or on Amazon. This credit will go towards a purchase of $45 or more on Sears.com.

I spoke with Stephen Coldering who used to own two bookstores outside of Indianapolis this morning for his thoughts about Sears jumping into the book price war.

"To me, it does not matter who jumps on this damn train," Coldering said. "This is just a reminder to me that I will probably never again realize my dream since the big fish don't leave any room for the little fish.

"I believe that there will be a lot of little fish that will be going belly up by the end of the year of this price war gets any worse than it already is. There are many of us that hoped to get back into the business one day, but I think that the chances are more of a pipe dream now. Now that Sears in in the game, I am sure that more are going to follow in the next few days."

When asked about what it was that put him out of business in the first place, he replied, "People would rather sit in their bunny slippers at home and order their books online. If they want more books like they ordered, they allow a computer to make suggestions to them. They don't appear to want to know what another person thinks. There were those of us out there that could make suggestions because of years of experience, but now we have been silenced by online booksellers like Amazon, Walmart, and the rest of them."

One other sentiment that Stephen Coldering made should be shared here at the end since it is the most poignant of all when talking about the online bookselling price war and Sears throwing it's hat into the ring. He stated that, "Sears used to be known as the store for the little guy. Now it is a store that is helping bury the little guy."

Other Sources:

PR Newswire

Associated Content