Amazon Launches "Bookstore Killer" App

[WillParkinson]

Amazon Launches "Bookstore Killer" App

Amazon has launched an iPhone app which allows users to scan the barcode of any title found in a bookstore and order it directly from them instead.

The latest version of Amazon Mobile, 1.2.8, contains a bar code scanner in its search screen. As with bar code scanners in other mobile apps, Amazon Mobile uses your iPhone's camera to take in a product's zebra-striped bar code. Amazon's servers then find a match, and after you select the item, you can sign in to your account to purchase the product on the spot. As on the regular Amazon Web site, you've got gift options and a choice of multiple shipping addresses. Just like before, you can also add the product to your wish list or cart for later purchasing.

Price comparison barcode scanning apps have already existed for a couple of years, but this one seems bound to be especially effective. A similar Amazon app was previously launched for the less popular Android.

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/10/amazon-launches-bookstore-killer-app.html

[AndyTiedye]

1. Amazon is So Good At What They Do It's a Bit Scary

[exboyfil]

3. They are the Wal-Mart of mail order

They had a lower price than Wal-Mart online for a recent purchase for me (exercise equipment). I have some pity for the local bookstores, but this technology is moving so fast that they were going to get crushed anyway. We no longer have a used bookstore in the area (I think it is due to the libraries' Book Nooks). We are down to one Barnes and Noble and the campus bookstore.

These ereaders have remarkable potential. In some ways they are liberating. Authors can get their books out to people in many different ways. They can offer the first three chapters as a download for free for example.

[AndyTiedye]

63. on the other hand

Amazon does allow competing merchants to sell through their site
which is something I don't see from Walmart, or anyone else for that matter.

[Ian David]

2. Now they're gonna start a war. n/t

[rrneck]

4. So I can go to the bookstore

and wait a week or so to receive a book that I have in my hand. Unless they offer a big fat smelly discount for using the app it ain't worth it.

[Egnever]

6. Absolutely right

and i have found amazons outsourcing to other retailers less than pleasant.

[geek tragedy]

8. Chances are the book will be 10-20% cheaper at Amazon. nt

[Scout]

15. price isn't the be-all end-all of everyone's decision making process n/t

[4lbs]

18. It really adds up when the brick-and-mortar bookstore often sells for near retail price and Amazon

for 20% less.

Took at college level math and science books.

MSRP is often almost $200.

Yet, on Amazon, you can often find them for $150.

Saving $50 per book in this case isn't anything to discard, if you are a college student.

[rrneck]

16. True. I buy books from them.

I mean a discount beyond that. Unless you buy at least $25 worth, you have to pay shipping anyway.

Amazon only works if you don't mind waiting for the book. But if I go to the store and I'm holding it in my hand Amazon has already lost out for me.

If I'm considering a hardback the Amazon price (with the wait) might make a difference, but if it's a paperback I'll just buy it and have done.

[X_Digger]

76. I have amazon prime.

For most items that we buy, shipping is free, and for those that aren't, we usually get a bump up in shipping options, at no charge.

It's paid for itself a couple of times over. The wife just had some cheese delivered that we couldn't find locally, and it came in 3 days ahead of when they said it would.

[Chan790]

51. This represents the one and only thing I like about living in DC.

Between Poets & Busboys, Kramerbooks and Politics & Prose, one of the three is always cheaper than Amazon on any given title released in the past 36 months. The only thing I ever use Amazon for is harder-to-find older books from a few years ago. Even then, I check the used and rare bookstores in Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle first.

(Also, DC's independent booksellers all have "sexy librarian" types working on staff. Very very yay!!)

[JHB]

70. Even after you add in shipping costs?

[Statistical]

82. 2 day shipping is free from prime members.n/t

[4lbs]

17. Amazon gives you free shipping on orders over $25, and you don't pay sales tax.

So, if you are looking at buying three $19.99 hardcover books at the bookstore, you likely can get each on Amazon for 20% less, which is $15.99.

That's all you pay each book.

So, you can pay $19.99 x 3 + whatever sales tax is in your state. With a sales tax of 8% it comes to a total of $64.77

From Amazon, you'll pay only $47.97.

A savings of almost 17 dollars. That's the price of another hardcover book on Amazon.

Is it worth 17 dollars in this case to wait a week?

[rrneck]

23. If you are forced to

engage in the annual fleecing of college students through obscenely overpriced textbooks that's different. But for one book at point of sale when I'm in the mood to buy it, I'm more willing to pay the premium to support the bookstore. Especially if it's not a corporate box store.

Of course it's been a while since I was in school, but when I went there wasn't time to find out what kind of books you need for any particular class to order them from Amazon unless you want to pay for overnight shipping.

[4lbs]

27. With the cost of college textbooks today, even paying $20 for overnight shipping, you'll likely be

saving money.

A college student taking 5 classes, can wind up with books costing $100 each or more.

Buying from Amazon, they get 20% off.

So, that's almost $500 for books from a bookstore, or $400 from Amazon. Even more, if most of the classes are math and/or science, with books upwards of $200 in those subjects.

Pay $20 for overnight shipping, and they still save at least $80.

[rrneck]

28. That sounds good.

I'm for anything that helps college students. Especially when they're raping you on books.

[4lbs]

37. Yeah, I can't believe how expensive textbooks have gotten in the past 15 years.

When I went to college during the early 1990s, my Calculus book cost only $60.

Now they are double that.

My Physics book was also $60, but now the latest edition of the same book is $180.


Buying online is almost the only way to go for most college students, that don't have a trust fund or full scholarship.

[rrneck]

39. And the sad part is

the only we can address the outrage of a corporation taking advantage of us is to let another corporation engage in "shock doctrine" economics and profit from the outrage instead of having some way to get a fair shake out of them.

[XemaSab]

71. This semester I noticed students using kindles/nooks

Especially if you have several classes in a day, carrying one "book" is a lot easier than carrying five.

[Art_from_Ark]

56. When I was in college

I bought nearly all of my textbooks at the used book store just off campus. Most of the time, they were about half the price of new books.

[NeoConsSuck]

80. You pay sales tax if you are a NY resident (no msg)

[Jamastiene]

97. In NC, we always have to pay taxes online. n/t

[gmoney]

45. Well, you can get one that hasn't been beat up by browsers

I regularly buy photography books, and its disgraceful how the public will treat a nice book in the store. Bent pages, torn dust jackets, etc. So, I'll admit, I'll browse at the bookstore, and frequently buy on Amazon just to get an actual "new" copy. Of course, saving 30 or 35% on a $60 book is a pretty strong incentive.

There really isn't even an independent bookstore around anymore, other than very specialized types (comics, new age, etc.) and one or two used shops. The rest are B&N, Borders, Books-a-Million, and with them, it's kind of a choice between supporting one mega corporation or another.

Another thing that I find kind of odd about the bookstores here is that they don't seem to be very careful with shelving "adult content" books maybe a little higher on the shelves? Case in point...



this was on the second shelf from the bottom, near a display of kids "activity books" and stuff... so I can see kids being drawn to the Lego book... the book with the panties on the cover is not meant for kids, and it wasn't just stuck there by a careless shopper, as there are three copies. I'm not a prude in the least, but I do think someone could make the effort to put that kind of book maybe on one of the top two shelves?

[Statistical]

81. Weeks? 1980s called and wants their shipping back.

With prime I usually get products in 2 days. Sometimes (rarely) it takes 3 days.

Say you are buying 3 books. Unlikely you are going to read all 3 in <3 days.

Buy one local, order the other 2 from amazon. Then again I got a kindle so this is all academic to me.

[rrneck]

88. Heh. If you look up cheap bastard in the dictionary

you'll see my picture there. The "super saver shipping" can take up to two weeks to get to me.

[Statistical]

89. Ouch. Sometimes time is worth it.

Prime is $70 a year comes w/ free 2 day shipping and overnight for $2.99 (which I rarely use but sometimes is useful).

I figure between me, my wife, my mother, her parents, and my brother (amazon allows 5 accounts per prime membership) that has to be at least 300-400 shipments per year (probably more). Works out to maybe $0.20 a shipment for 2nd day. You can't beat that.

[rrneck]

90. True that. If I bought more stuff from Amazon it'd be worth it. nt

[wtmusic]

5. That sucks.

The bookstore spends lots of money on its physical presence and stock, so that you can peruse. This leeching is going too far - especially when most retail stores now have a "no photography" policy.

[JNelson6563]

7. I happen to like book stores.

[derby378]

9. Me, too

Ordering from Amazon is great if my local stores don't have the title in stock, but really, this is just nuts. Not to mention a senseless burden on our postal system.

[JanMichael]

24. AND it deprives your community the sales tax which could go towards...

...homelessness prevention programs, roads, schools, police, fire, affordable housing, water, sewer, etfricancetera.

[derby378]

25. Exactly - 8.25% is not going to kill anyone

If it helps shore up our city's infrastructure and keep firefighters on the job, then so much the better.

[Nye Bevan]

58. Actually, you still owe the 8.25%.

You are supposed to total up all of your online purchases each year and compute and pay the "use tax". If you do this then your community will not be deprived.

[David Zephyr]

64. Thank you, thank you and thank you.

:)

[Statistical]

83. No it doesn't. It is still your responsibility to pay. You do pay right? n/t

[Mimosa]

69. Amazon uses UPS, not the post office.

The price disparities between Barnes and Noble stores and their own website -not to mention Amazon- are unsustainable. Any book costing over 35 bucks I check out online. ;)

[jillan]

96. I can walk into a book store and an hour will pass before I even realize it.

There is just something soothing and serene about a bookstore.

[AspenRose]

10. WHOA.

:wow:

[eleny]

11. So I should drive to a bookstore to compare prices...

...when I can do that at home on the internet? No thx.

[Luminous Animal]

49. I think the strategy is that they are poaching on customers who like to browse...

People can get the benefit of browsing in a store, flipping through books & magazines, asking the staff questions, reading staff recommendations, drinking the free tea & coffee, and then act like total assholes and buy the product from Amazon.

[terrya]

12. That's horrible.

I should go to my favorite independent bookstore here in Chicago, Unabridged Books, and buy some books just to counter that bullshit.

[quinnox]

13. Lame idea

Duh, ok I can get the juicy looking book right now in my hot little hands or instead wait a week and go home to order it from Amazon.

This is a hare brained idea.

[4lbs]

21. Compare buying 3 hardcover $19.99 books from a brick-and-mortar bookstore and then from Amazon.

The savings are significant.

Hare-brained? Hardly.

[wtmusic]

60. Not hare-brained, but short-sighted.

Patronizing bookstores keeps a place alive where you can look before you buy, and keeps jobs/money in the community. Our local B&N has kid's reading programs and musical entertainment.

Amazon is turning into the online Wal-mart.

[msongs]

14. Amazon punishes buyers who get the free shipping bonus - even if item is in stock it is gonna sit in

the warehouse for a week or two unshipped, because Amazon is mad at you for not coughing up for shipping. has happened to us many times. so we never buy anything there that we need right away.

[KittyWampus]

19. Weird. Every time I've ordered stacks of books, they've arrived 2 days later.

Maybe it's just where I live has better postal sorting at postal facilities.

In fact, I am fairly certain that is probably the case- postal facilities between Amazon and you being slow and not Amazon purposely delaying your shipment.

[tammywammy]

46. oops wrong spot

[DeschutesRiver]

74. I live in a rural remote ranching area, central Oregon, and my orders arrive in 4-5 days

the fastest was 3 days; the longest was a week. I order with free shipping almost exclusively. I have books and other stuff shipped to the one building that comprises the nearest "town" - it comes either USPS or UPS. We get our mail and things like milk and eggs there, and in the winter, we pickup orders delivered via our local bookmobile (you can get light groceries, gas, use the post office, have a bowl of stew or rootbeer float, etc). That is only a 24 mile RT for us, vs. the 60 RT to the small town, vs. 150 RT to the nearest "big city". In the winter, we only go to that store every 2-3 weeks, so amazon is delivering faster than we can pick it up.

I used to laugh at amazon when they started - who would use that? I then ordered from them at our old house, and thought it was a decent service, but we did have shops nearby so why bother much. Now that any meaningful shops are a hours away, and even at that you can't find everything you need at a decent price, I order almost everything I need from Amazon and pick it up at down the road at the general store.

I don't know how they are doing it - if I place an order at night, the damned thing is there at the front desk of the general store a few days later. Been like this for the past few years; if anything, the orders are coming much faster now.

[4lbs]

20. Only once in the last 4 years of buying from Amazon, has anything been delayed a long time.

I usually get items no later than 4 business days with standard ground shipping.

[some guy]

61. How much does Amazon pay you

to go around the internet and sing their praises?

just curious, I don't particularly care.

[gmoney]

78. generally 20 to 30% of the list price

[PeaceNikki]

34. Never EVER happened to me.

[uncommon]

35. Bullshit.

I never waited more than 7 days from the time of ordering for a Free Super Saver Shipping item.

And at $79 for a year of Amazon Prime, I now get everything I buy from Amazon for free shipping in 1-2 days. With the amount of online ordering I do, it has more than paid for itself.

[tammywammy]

48. They offered Amazon Prime to student for free for a year

I love it!

[uncommon]

72. It's an amazing deal.

I will be signing up for it again this year.

I like bookstores as much as the next person, but I generally buy obscure titles and I buy a LOT of other items online and this is an affordable way for me to do so. I can't be a purist in all things.

[tammywammy]

47. That's never happened to me

I usually receive shipments in 2 days.

[Nevernose]

62. We have a major distribution center here (Vegas)

Occasionally I'll order a book when I get to work at 7am and find it waiting on my porch by the time I get home at 3 or 4. That actually makes Amazon faster than the bookstore.

[cbdo2007]

75. Not true here - I've ordered stuff for over $25 and gotten free shipping

and it regularly comes within 2-3 days. My dad has Amazon Prime and even me without it I get stuff the same days he does when we order on the same day usually. Occasionally it will be 5 days but that's rare like right up next to a holiday.

[Statistical]

86. Get prime free 2 day shipping on everything. If you buy enough it really makes sense n/t

[Rosco T.]

87. Horse Pucky, aboslute Horse Pucky....

.. never had it happen it 8 YEARS of free shipping from Amazon.

FUD.

[Brickbat]

22. Thus continuning its Walmartification. I never shop with those union-busters.

I get my books from Powells.com. Powell's is a union bookseller.

[On the Road]

26. Although it is Nicknames a "Bookstore Killer"

There are certainly other uses. If you're see an interesting book on a friend or relative's bookshelf, for example, you can order it on the spot. Or hold it on a shopping list until you accumulate enough for free shipping.

[Luminous Animal]

50. My friends and relatives lend me their books. And I lend them mine.

[MilesColtrane]

29. This will work because most Americans have control of their impulses...

and can delay gratification in order to be more financially responsible.


..heh, yeah.

[rucky]

33. It's not the kill. It's the thrill of the chase.

There are impulse buyers and then there are compulsive shoppers. Two different groups.

[rucky]

30. People go into my wife's store and do something similar.

They'll take pictures of the items, write stuff down, then go home to comparison shop on the 'net.

And they wonder why all the shops are closing in downtown.

[jmowreader]

31. There's a big problem with this...

The reason I buy things from Amazon is I can't get them any other way.

Quick example: Saab 900 8-Valve Service Manual. No one in the area--including the Saab dealer in Spokane--carries this. Amazon had it, so that's where I went.

If you can figure out how to scan the barcode on a book no one in Eastern Washington or North Idaho has on the shelf, please let us know.

[uncommon]

32. Eh I don't see the big deal - smartphone users can already look up the price on Amazon while they

stand in the bookstore.

[mikeSchmuckabee]

36. So if I want a book on my friend's or teacher's shelf

I can order it right there when I see it? Or when I'm on vacation and don't want to find a bookstore and lug it around with me? It can be waiting for me at home? Sounds better than killing trees to write a note then driving to the bookstore. Good for them.

[HuckleB]

38. It's interesting how few see the benefit in purchasing locally from local businesses.

It's not just the sales tax that benefits the buyer and the buyer's community in such cases. If you are buying from a local business, it's far more likely that any profits that business makes will be spent in the community at other local businesses, etc... In lean times, that business will accept losses to stay alive, thus keeping people employed, that many corporations will not find acceptable. Buying local doesn't end with food.

[David Zephyr]

68. Well said.

:)

[JI7]

40. CAn Bookstores afford to match the prices ?

if they get an increase in volume ? they can check themselves on the internet to see if these places are selling cheaper and match those prices .

or will the cost of having the store be too much to sell for that low, even if they get increase in volume ?

[RainDog]

43. no, independents cannot match prices because Amazon gets bigger discounts

they call these discounts "co-op-ing" but they pressure publishers for bigger discounts than stores can receive.

Amazon is Wal-mart, basically. except now, they're bigger assholes, imho.

[RainDog]

41. fuck you, amazon

they already engage in unfair trade practices by insisting on discounts, pressuring publishers these, and trying to undermine community-based and oriented book sellers.

so, fuck amazon and anyone who goes into an independent book store and does this. if you do this, you're lower than the dog shit I wipe off my shoe. you are responsible for the death of community-based businesses by these actions.

[David Zephyr]

66. +1

:)

[Hannah Bell]

42. i'd rather have the bookstore order it. hate amazon.

[David Zephyr]

67. +1

Me, too.

[RainDog]

44. when you buy something from a locally-owned biz, you put 40 cents of every dollar back

forty cents of every dollar goes back into the community where you live.

when you buy from amazon...and to particularly engage in this sort of shitty behavior, you hurt your community.

and when you have nothing interesting going on in your community, you can thank yourself for making your town a dead suburb.

[Luminous Animal]

52. +1

I love my local book stores... new & used.

[Grabo]

53. This is hardly new technology

ShopSavvy has been available for Android (and I assume the I Phone) for a while. You scan a bar code and it gives you the best price from any website not just Amazon as well as any brick and motor stores nearby.

[David Zephyr]

65. +2

:)

[Regret My New Name]

54. teehee

This interests me.

[burrowowl]

55. Fuck Amazon

and Powells is great for finding rare books, I like my local book store that is a Mom and Pop, browsing is a great feeling!

[Rabrrrrrr]

57. Actually, it's called "Amazon Mobile", not "Bookstore Killer".

Says so even in the text of the article you quoted.

[Berserker]

59. less popular Android.

what the hell are you talking about? The Android system already is more popular than that apple closed source bullshit and it just got started.

Today we get more research suggesting that the Android operating system has surged past the iPhone platform.

According to a report from GigaOm, Nielsen is poised to announce today that Android now represents 27 percent of new smart phone purchases in the U.S., ahead of 23 percent for the iPhone. The numbers are for Q2, but it's unclear how much of the iPhone 4 is represented, considering it came right at the end of June.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=69183

[Rosco T.]

85. and.. that app has been on Anrdroid for almost a year...

.. came stock installed on my Nexus One. Has saved me a bundle on 'impulse purchases'

[RainDog]

91. if you used that in my store I would ask you to leave

because I spend time working on developing a collection. you are stealing my work when you do this.

[Rosco T.]

92. more horse pucky.

Stealing? Good lord.. then again you are under the (mistaken) impression that all Amazon sells are BOOKS. And again you assume (wrongly) that Amazon always has the best price. They don't. Last time I used it for books, I bought it in the local store, cause Amazon was $10 higher.. but I was about to just 'impulse' and assume I could get it cheaper elsewhere, gosh I was wrong. So the sword cuts both ways... remember that.

[RainDog]

93. this post is clearly in reference to books.

so that's my frame of reference - the entire thread is about books. if someone goes off on a tangent - when no mention of anything else is made, it's not unreasonable to assume that person was talking about books.

and I stand by what I say. maybe they don't realize that books do not just magically appear - that people work to select items that will draw people to one place vs another - stores have to pay for this - for expertise in certain areas, for the time to do research... so, I stand by what I say to say that people who go into stores with a phone and use it to buy based upon the work of other people - those are not nice people and they hurt their communities and they can go elsewhere if they want to use my services and not pay for them.

[Rosco T.]

94. and once again, you ignored the fact...

.. that having that in my phone had me buy the BOOK in the LOCAL STORE instead of AMAZON.

with that attitude, you can be sure I would never set foot in your store, even if it was a better price.

Congrats, you show how little you care for your customers.

[RainDog]

95. you are entirely wrong in your assumption

about my attitude toward customers. but you can think and do what you will.

what I see from you is that you disregarded the entire point I was making about the work that goes into creating collections and providing information, etc. to customers.

and then you insult me.

so if you wouldn't want to do business with me, I guess we're both fine with that.

[Statistical]

98. While it might not be nice it is hardly stealing.

By providing the collection to the public you have given up any right to put restrictions on how the collection (books arranged on shelf are used).

Stealing is a crime.

finding a book you like and buying from amazon instead isn't a crime.

[XemaSab]

73. I would LOVE to have an indie bookstore in town

The Barnes and Noble here is wack, and if it wasn't for Amazon and other online book ordering I would end it all. :(

[izzybeans]

77. So basically they are asking me to wait 7 to 10 days to read a book sitting in front of me right now

Stupid.

[Lyric]

79. They need to rename it "Local Economy Killer"

Because without sales taxes collected from local bookstores, and without the peripheral business and jobs that local stores bring to the community (examples: coffee shops, gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants, and other places that people go while they're out "picking up a book"), you can expect to see more potholes, longer response times for emergency services, less service and quality from local public utilities, far fewer local events and free shows/fairs/etc, closed or reduced public libraries and parks, and other "cost-cutting" measures. It won't be one big, dramatic change. It will be death by a thousand cuts. No one negative effect will seem to be "that bad", but when you add up all of them together?

That 10-20% you save will come back to bite you in the ass in the end. Unless your local store doesn't *have* the book you're looking for, it's just not worth it. Remember--every time you get a "bargain", you're paying for it somewhere else, either in lower quality, compromised safety, drastically reduced selection, or by hurting your local economy. There's a reason that big-box store employees are paid so poorly that they often qualify for public assistance. The company WANTS those costs passed on to the consumer.

[gmoney]

84. I have it, and you can take a picture of the cover

I downloaded it last night when I saw this thread, and I've tried it out on random things, and it's pretty impressive... books (even a crooked shot of the cover), DVDs, a magazine, a bottle of mouthwash, a spindle of blank DVDs, a CD that had several library stickers on it, a label maker that was just sitting here, a pocket calculator. Some things are instantaneous, others take a minute or two. And even if it couldn't find your item, it would save the picture of it so you would have a reminder to search for it yourself.

The one thing it did NOT work with was a photo of a bar code -- it brought up a book about barcodes. Doh!

Speaking of my iPod, I saved about $50 buying it from Amazon, and got it at least a week earlier than my local Apple dealer. The local guy has never seemed to appreciate my business, even though I've made a point of buying my company's Macs from him rather than Apple direct or other retailers. A few weeks ago, I was having problems with the battery on my old iPod not holding a charge, and they wouldn't even answer some basic questions like "is this what happens when the battery craps out?" All they would say is "we don't service iPods, you'll have to contact Apple." I bought the fucking thing from them, but they wouldn't even answer some basic questions. Fuck that shit. So I ordered the replacement from Amazon. (Turns out that the old one just needed to be put on a wall charger for a few days and that seems to have revived it, but I was planning on upgrading anyway.)