Causes Of the Depression

Independent bookstores are retail bookstores usually owned by individuals and operate on a medium to small scale. Since the bookstores are attached to local communities or embody beliefs held by their owners, the books they sell may include a narrower range of topics that touches certain issues. Without a doubt, independent bookstores hold a unique place both in the bookselling industry and in representing the cultures of various regions. As for chained bookstores and online bookstores, with larger bases of customers, the books sold may include all kinds of topics. However, the difference among these bookstores is not merely the books; how they operate in the bookselling industry reveals an even deeper gap.

Due to the difference in scale, bookstores have different bargain power with both customers and publishers. Take Taiwan’s bookstores for example. Traditionally, the bookstores import certain numbers of books each month and publishers calculate the total costs of those books. If the sales of the month are bigger than the cost, bookstores pay the publishers and if not, the publishers either pay the bookstores or import additional books for free in the next month. This system put bookstores in disadvantages since it is rather hard to predict sales of the month and many of the times, they end up having to pay publishers more money. On the other hand, chained bookstores such as The Eslite Bookstore have adopted a new policy since 2008. According to the new rule, instead of bookstores purchasing books in advance, publishers place their merchandises at the bookstores “temporarily” and calculate the number sold at the agreed upon time. In this way, chained bookstores only need to pay for what they have sold. As for online bookstores, similar to chained ones, they have no pressure in terms of how much profits they should at least make in a month. Moreover, not only did online bookstores are open for all day and come into contact with more customers, they have no worries of in terms of renting or buying a storage.

It came as no surprise that the scale of bookstores and how much capacity they have are of great importance to thier survivals. Since chained bookstores and online bookstores are capable of selling a considerable number of books, publishers are willing to cooperate with them and change the original system and even lower the price of books. With the lower cost, the two bookstores then could put on discounts followed by even more sales. For example, Amazon put on several sales when it first started operating in Japan. This strategy was enabled by Amazon purchasing massive numbers of books from publishers. Furthermore, after making enough profits, Amazon even started building their own chain of book supply such as establishing their own publishing companies, thus putting other bookstores in more competitive stage.

獨立書店是通常由個人經營的中小型通路商，並且書店內賣的書內容主題可能會受地社區文化或店主支持的理念影響。獨立書店無庸置疑不僅在書業中佔了獨特的位置，也代表了不同地區的文化。相對地因為有較大的客群，連鎖書店和網路書店內賣的書涵蓋更多主題範圍，然而它們和獨立書店的差距不限於賣的書種類，營運方式間的差別更是天差地遠。

書店規模的大小會造成書店和消費者、出版社間的議價能力不同。以台灣的書店為例：傳統上書店會從出版社進定量的書，並以進書的價錢和當月營收相減；如果營收大於書價，書店結款給出版社而如果小於書價，出版社則需付款給書店或是以下個月多出書來抵銷負數帳款。因為無法保證當月賣出的書量，這樣的制度讓書店處於劣勢，最後常常必須多付出版社書錢。連鎖書店如誠品書店於2008年簽訂的新制度則是使出版社將商品先寄放在書店，在約定好的時間依照賣出的商品結款，相比傳統制度只需要付賣出的書的成本價錢。網路書店和連鎖書店類似，只需依照售出的書量結款而不用擔心每個月的營收。除此之外，網路書店不只一天24小時皆有營業可以吸引更多顧客，它們也不必擔心倉儲的成本費用。

依照上述可以推知書店規模以及書店本身擁有的資本對於其生存至關重要。因為連鎖書店和網路書店能夠銷售可觀數量的書籍，出版社願意和它們合作改變原來的制度甚至降低書本定價。有了較低的書本成本，兩種書店便可以對書本大幅度打折。以日本為例，在亞馬遜一開始進駐時曾打出的不少促銷活動就是建立於大量購書降低單本書成本的效果。並且，在亞馬遜獲取足夠利潤時，它們甚至開始構築屬於自己的物流網，加遽書店間的競爭。