subject: Benefits of Book Discounts [print this page] Benefits of Book Discounts Benefits of Book Discounts
Books are a treasure house of knowledge across the ages. From time immemorial, books have been written, stored, traded and treasured for their ability to pass information and knowledge across generations.
Discounts on books have been used by publishers, retailers and traders on a periodic basis to promote the book, increase circulation or sometimes to dispose book inventory of non-moving books.
In the current context, books are traded both in bulk and in the retail market. Retails shops end up getting discounts indirectly, through the margins which publishers share with them. The retail outlets in fact end up getting the maximum discount, though they are able to sell only a few volumes of the book at a time.
Retailers in turn pass on discounts to the end customers. These could be in the form of end of season sales or lump sum discounts on the number of books purchased. It is a common phenomenon that discounts are more prevalent on older books as they move out of circulation. New books are generally not sold at a discount. The exception to this rule is rare books, which may in fact be sold at a premium as they age across time.
The wholesalers tend to get volume discounts on the bulk volume of books which they distribute to retailers in a particular region. They take the inherent risk of ensuring distribution to a large number of retailers. The retail market is an extremely fragmented market and the wholesaler may sometimes have to push a book by offering credit terms apart from trade discounts.
Publishers offer discounts to the wholesalers in case they wish to promote the book of a new author. This is done to ensure that there is adequate interest generated in the new book. The discounts are further pushed down by the wholesaler to the retailer and then to the end customer. As is obvious, new books of established authors rarely sell at a discount.
Books on the internet or e-books are the latest offering in the book space these days. In such cases also, book discounts are offered to the subscriber online. Additionally, there are several online book stores like amazon.com which offer seasonal discounts. The only difference in these cases is that these discounts are offered by the promoter website instead of the wholesaler or a retailer in case of physical books.
So, get ready book worms!!! Keep looking out for the elusive discounts on your desired books and gorge on the delights which only reading can provide.
