Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI5: How is Amazon able to sell me books so much cheaper than brick and mortar book stores in my area (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I like shopping in book stores. There's something about wandering the aisles and waiting for a book to jump out at you that I can't get shopping online. Unfortunately, whenever I compare the price of a book Amazon has every in-person store beat, often pricing their offerings 30%-50% lower (or around $10/book in my experience) even when I go to a large chain like Barnes and Noble.

How is it that Amazon is able to afford to offer the books so much cheaper and also support all of the infrastructure involved in shipping it to my doorstep compared with in-person stores?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also there are times Amazon prints on demand. They don't keep anything in stock taking up space, instead printing it as soon as it's ordered allowing them to save space

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Doesn't bookbinding actually take a long time? Atleast, for well bound books it does. Can't speak for the cheap glued on paperbacks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Not sure about cost. I know when I've bought books on amazon they were the glued on paperbacks showing they were printed the day I ordered it.