Darrin,
I have heard those arguments, and here is the reason that I dont think they hold water. Buying small ticket, commodity items over the net, can be much cheaper, but only if you buy enough at a time to cover the shipping costs. If you are only buying one or two books at a time(the majority of purchases, IMO), then you arent saving any real money. You are saving time and conveinance, but no money. However, many people like and enjoy going into a bookstore and browsing, and wont buy books over the net for that reason. Plus, I think books are many times, last minute, "I'm already at the mall, I'll get it now", type of purchases.
I think that there is room and a need of both ways of doing business.
I especially the 200+ million that Bartelsmen(sp?) gave them to get their site up to snuff. I also believe that it is Pru's number 1 pick in the market, but am not 100% sure of that.
Mark |
