SHOPKEEPERS have the right to stock and sell whatever they choose. So news that Amazon is playing tough with Hachette, a global publisher based in France, is nothing novel. But in recent weeks, as the firms negotiate terms for e-book pricing, the online retailer has deployed particularly strong-arm tactics in America. These include removing the “pre-order” buttons from forthcoming books, refusing to sell printed books by certain authors and delaying delivery times. Buyers of Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” must wait between two and three weeks for the paperback—not the next-day delivery for which the hyper-efficient firm is famous.On May 27th Amazon broke its customary silence to say it is “not optimistic” that the squabble will be resolved soon. It brazenly urged customers to buy Hachette books from other sellers on its site, “or from one of our competitors”. For Amazon, which bills itself as favouring the consumer, its actions seem to undermine its values.The heart of the dispute is e-book pricing and the fees that suppliers pay to retailers. In the world of printed books, sellers may charge whatever...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1nZY0SV
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