Book Price
Book Price Comparison
J. Troy Christensen
Marketing 551
Robert Walker
11/27/02
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Book Price Comparison
Last year at this time The Lord of The Rings, The Fellowship of The Ring hit
theaters. As we now know, the movie was intensely popular, and the story written by
J.R.R. Tolkein was introduced to some and resurrected for others. I was in the introduced
camp and jumped on The Lord of The Rings band-wagon as one who somehow made it
through all my schooling without reading a single sentence out of the series of books. I
decided the only proper thing to do was to buy the books and read them to that I could
criticize the movie intelligently. I began my search for the box set of these books,
including The Hobbit thinking it would be a simple process. Does a person buy online or
at the specialty book store? Do you buy from the super market or the wholesale store? I
found that with the multiple retailers selling the books and the abundance of information
about the books, I had to pick some specifications for my search and hold them constant.
After doing this, I was able to make by purchase decision solely on the price of the book.
I am going to tell you how the pricing variable affected my purchase of the Lord of The
Rings box set.
First let me lay out my specifications I demanded from my purchase. The box set
I wanted was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1999. The dimensions of the book are
large enough to make the reading easier on the eyes, and I like the art work on the covers
done by Alan Lee. Holding these specifications constant helped me decide which retailer
I bought my box set from.
The wholesale retailers I surveyed were very interesting. They are Costco and
Book Wholesalers. Costco does not get the books in stock unless they are popular. They
do not specialize in books, therefore cannot hold obscure books on their shelves that
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would be better used by hundreds of other products they could carry. In other words,
before the movie came out last year, good luck finding any of J.R.R. Tolkein’s works at
Costco. Book Wholesalers is the polar opposite. When I asked for this box set they said,
“We don’t get popular books from over-stocked retailers.” So, Book Wholesalers did not
carry the books, and Costco sells the exact box set I want for $27.99. Even though the
stores share the wholesale concept Book Wholesalers will have to wait until the movies
aren’t popular and Costco will carry the books until the movies are not popular. I thought
this was an interested contrast.
My next comparison is among the online retailers. I shopped Amazon.com,
Barnes and Noble.com and Borders.com. The new price (you do have the choice for
used) of the box set I want is $27.00 ($3.00 shipping may apply) at all three sites. There
is no issue with availability as it is in stock at all three sites. The one problem that I did
have is the three day wait, really not much of a concern. I did find it interesting
Borders.com actually uses Amazon to handle their online book sales. From a marketing
stand point, I agree with this strategy. Borders is still the retailer the consumer has in
mind when making the purchase, yet Amazon, who has made online retailing their core
competency, does all the behind-the-scenes work. I like that.
Last stop is the specialty book stores. No problem finding a book, obscure or
popular, at one of these joints. If they do not have it, they will get it. Personally, I like
the stores; they are fun to shop in. With the focus on price, the environment the store
provides means very little. The box set I am looking for is easy enough to find there, is
well stocked. However, the price for the set, at both stores, is $45. This clearly
disqualifies the specialty store from my list of possible purchase locations.
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In the end, I bought the box set that I wanted from Costco. I did not have to wait
the three shipping days, and there was only a dollar difference in pricing between Costco
and the online retailers. Buying a book was once a simple task. With so many retailers it
is possible to find the same exact product at multiple locations. The same product at
multiple locations forces price into the focus of the purchasing decision. Given the
abundance of available information, the diligent consumer is able to get what he/she
wants at the best possible price.