Borders Australia is fighting Amazon (which does not have a local operation) with a new price guarantee, which the Sydney Morning Herald says “signals a new era in the way Australian book sellers compete in the global online market.” They will promise that if a customer finds a book that costs less from Amazon once shipping is included, Borders will pay the difference in price plus 10 percent.SMH In the UK, the FT reports that Waterstone’s will add in-store concessions from stationery chain Paperchase in 20 stores. Still owned by Borders, Paperchase used to have boutiques in the now-bankrupt Borders […]
International News
In Reorganization, Octopus USA to Close As UK Cuts List and Consults on Job Reductions
“Strategic changes” from the Octopus Publishing Group in London include the closing of Octopus USA, launched within Hachette Book Group USA at the beginning of last year. As a result, USA associate publisher Jonathan Stolper and director of publicity and marketing Andrea Glickson’s jobs are being eliminated, though the company says they “launched and managed the Octopus USA business very successfully, and Octopus’ profile in North America has grown significantly thanks to their hard work.” HBG’s client services group will continue to handle sales and distribution of Octopus titles here. In the broader reorganization of the unit, they will focus […]
After Textbook Bribes, Macmillan UK Is Barred from World Bank Contracts
Macmillan’s UK education division admitted to making bribes “in an [unsuccessful] attempt to get a contract to print textbooks” for an education project in Sudan whose funds were administered by the World Bank. As a result, the bank has barred Macmillan Limited from eligibility for bank-financed contracts for six years. Macmillan would not discuss the incident with Reuters, but a spokesperson said “We will not tolerate improper behavior as a company, and the fact that we have worked closely with the World Bank to reach this agreement is evidence of that. There is no suggestion that these concerns have affected […]
At Least Some Canadian Booksellers Ask Government to Lift Import Restrictions
The Canadian Booksellers Association said in a release last week that parallel import restrictions on books from publishers outside of Canada are “no longer commercially reasonable and should be repealed.” CBA vice president Mark Lefebvre told Quill & Quire that the current law, particularly given the strong Canadian dollar, is “a tariff on the Canadian book-buying public.” Part of the booksellers’ argument is that customers are driven to purchase cheaper editions from US online sellers. Canadian books are generally priced higher in Canadian dollars, so that when their currency reaches parity with the US dollar the Canadian editions are considerably […]
Waterstone's Same-Store Decline "Improves" to -4.8 Percent
In a preliminary report of annual results, Waterstone’s parent HMW is claiming that bookstore sales are improving, with same-store sales for the 16-weeks ending April 24 down 4.8 percent–which is indeed better than the full-year same-store decline of 6.2 percent, and also an improvement over the poor Christmas holiday comp decline of 8.9 percent. Overall bookstore sales for the year are down 6 percent as well. It’s the second straight annual decline for the chain. Though they did not report actual figures today, based on last year’s numbers, sales will be down to approximately 515 million pounds for the year. […]
Random House Discloses Sale of Japanese and Korean Units
Random House revealed quietly in an internal personnel announcement that over the past 10 months the company has retrenched from two pieces of the Peter Olson expansionist years. In September, they discontinued their Japanese joint venture, Random House Kodansha, which began in 2003, and in February they divested their Random House Korea, which they had started as a joint venture with JoongAng and bought full control of four years ago. In both cases, the units were sold to the CEOs and executives who run the companies. Random House Kodansha ceo Yuji Takeda led the buyout of what is now called […]