UKC

Amazon undercut Rockfax

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 Mark Kemball 27 Jun 2013
I was slightly surprised by an email from Amazon this morning offering me "West Country Climbs" (a good guide, which I already have) for £17.47 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1873341377/ref=pe_25631_37503001_email_1... compared to the list price of £24.95 from Rockfax http://www.rockfax.com/climbing-guides/books/west-country-climbs-2010/ does this mean that Amazon, through a sense of philanthropy, are drastically cutting their margins to encourage climbing in the South West? Or are they using their commercial muscle to squeeze Alan and Mick for particularly good price?
In reply to Mark Kemball:

Amazon do a lot of strange stuff. They sent me an email recently asking whether I was interested in indoor skydiving.

jcm
 dale1968 27 Jun 2013
In reply to Mark Kemball: book depository also want to encourage climbing in the southwest as well
In reply to Mark Kemball:

Amazon do strange things to cut their margins and market aggressively. I get the same amount from a copy sold on Amazon as I do from a copy sold elsewhere but Amazon themselves make much less. This is their tactic to get people to use the site.

We could undercut the £17.47 and make less ourselves but then the small outdoor shops would rightly be outraged and many would probably not stock our books. You can see this across the Outdoor Trade where manufacturers like Berghaus, for example, sell their stuff at RRP from their own site getting a much better margin but not undercutting their retail outlets who are obviously vital for the brand. It simply isn't the done thing.

So if you cherish being able to buy guidebooks from your local outdoor retailer, then buy them from there and not from Amazon. If everyone tries to save a few pounds at Amazon, then that could lead to small shops cutting stock of guidebooks since they don't make much on them anyway.

And no, we can't not supply Amazon since the book trade works through huge secondary distributors who supply all sorts of places as well as Amazon (many other European outlets, many high street book shops). These big distributors would not listen to a small publisher saying don't sell to Amazon, they would simply drop the books which would cut our sales outlets in half.

Alan
OP Mark Kemball 27 Jun 2013
In reply to Alan James - Rockfax: I thought it was some sort of Amazon shenanigans - glad you guys are not loosing out on it.
Mike Raine told me that his royalties on "Nature of Snowdonia" were significantly less if you purchased it through amazon compared to buying it from the PyB shop.
In reply to Mark Kemball:
> Mike Raine told me that his royalties on "Nature of Snowdonia" were significantly less if you purchased it through amazon compared to buying it from the PyB shop.

Probably because he is supplying the PyB shop himself and not through a distributor.

Alan
 andrewmc 27 Jun 2013
In reply to Mark Kemball:

I managed to get it for sub-£15 the other day from Go Outdoors with the obligatory price match from some random seller on Play.com. At that price I don't know if they will be losing money...

PS normally try and buy stuff from the shop at a nearby-ish wall but was in a hurry and a bit skint at the moment!
 Offwidth 28 Jun 2013
In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:

Well said Alan.
 MarkDavies36 28 Jun 2013
In reply to Alan James - Rockfax: I do sometimes wish there was a "like" button, or similar
In reply to MarkDavies36:
> (In reply to Alan James - UKC and UKH) I do sometimes wish there was a "like" button, or similar

Sadly that was voted for by only 16.9% of readers in our readership survey.

Alan
 peppermill 28 Jun 2013
In reply to Alan James - Rockfax: F*ck them. I want one. Isn't that how voting works?
 cuppatea 28 Jun 2013
In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:

Sounds like a shampoo commercial.. "16% of 136 people agreed"


On the other hand 84% didn't say they didn't want one

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