Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI5: How is Amazon able to sell me books so much cheaper than brick and mortar book stores in my area (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by DrMango@lemmy.world to c/explainlikeimfive@lemmy.world

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I like shopping in book stores. There's something about wandering the aisles and waiting for a book to jump out at you that I can't get shopping online. Unfortunately, whenever I compare the price of a book Amazon has every in-person store beat, often pricing their offerings 30%-50% lower (or around $10/book in my experience) even when I go to a large chain like Barnes and Noble.

How is it that Amazon is able to afford to offer the books so much cheaper and also support all of the infrastructure involved in shipping it to my doorstep compared with in-person stores?

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[–] RQG@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Biggest cost factor is the people working in a book store per book sold as well as their pay is mich higher for a book store. As an upside you get people who can actually recommend you great books based on your interests. The insane book love and knowledge those people often have is astonishing to me. That's what I very much am fine with paying a bit extra for.