Always dangerous to argue against free.
What happens in my store when I have a free giveaway?
"Can I have two?"
Every time. Think about that.
There's been a couple of articles lately about the problem of too many free events. Today in the Bulletin it's about the Les Schwab pirates. Bunch of free-loaders getting free music. What's wrong with that? I'm assuming that they're not selling enough tickets.
Yesterday I had a couple of guys complain about how they never can find any manga or anime they want anymore. "Sometimes I don't just want to torrent something, I want to own it," one of them said, thereby confirming that he usually torrents.
They seemed surprised to hear that Best Buy and Barnes and Noble were carrying less manga and anime. Certainly, I'm carrying less. Still, because I don't dump stuff, there is an irony developing where I actually have more than anyone else again...
Then there was the Source article, "Something for Nothing: Is There Such a Thing as a Free Concert?"
Let's spend all summer distracting the tourists with free events. Oh, dear. Too many.
I will extend this concern into the commercial realm. We are told as bookstore that we must offer the "third space" a free space to sit and talk and have events and sip one cup of coffee or wine and sit and look at magazines or books, have readings, or listen to music.
In return, we are told, we will be rewarded with loyal business.
I've never bought into this notion. The amount of space, time, and energy devoted to "free" is better used to fill with legit merchandise that people want. Having "legit merchandise that people want" is a service too.
You have constant events downtown that close the streets, offering "free" entertainment. You know my feelings about that. But, you know, it has a huge lobby. Or as Bill said, "It's not all about business, you know." Seeing as how I'm paying rent downtown and employees and hopefully myself, well, yeah it is "all about business..."
You have the internet where almost everything is at cost. I've got competitors online selling Magic and sports cards for below cost. (Don't ask how -- it's complicated and stupid and half the time dishonest.)
Meanwhile, if you are offering any kind of artistic effort you're told that you can get followers by offering it "free" or at very low cost. Give it away, and they'll become buyers.
Again, I'm not sure that is what really happens.
It's like saying that if you feed a kid enough candy he'll eat his vegetables.
The amount of reward coming in on any entertainment -- music, movies, books, newspapers and magazines -- is not commiserate to the old pay models. Doesn't matter. It's free and you can't fight it.
And finally, you have a business model like Amazon where they have never actually turned a profit for books, which more or less makes them the equivalent for business profits of "free." Meanwhile, hardworking people who are trying to earn a living are closing down. Our last independent bookstore closed down in Bend a few months ago...
So these "free" activities have a huge following -- of course -- and being against them for any reason makes you the bad guy. But I think it's all promotion gone mad: what's really happening is you replace reality with promotion and supposedly that will make a bigger reality but instead just creates more promotion.
It's the law of unintended consequences.
So in that spirit, I offer -- "Let's have twice as many!"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
"We are told as bookstore that we must offer the 'third space' a free space to sit and talk and have events and sip one cup of coffee or wine and sit and look at magazines or books, have readings, or listen to music."
While I'm not one to express sympathy for your complaints that downtown events don't help sales -- like limited parking, customers that torrent stuff, and days of bad weather, it's just part of doing business -- it's all part of your overhead; but the idea that a bookstore has to offer lounge space has always struck me as silly. There's a bookstore down the street from Pegasus which has such a space and except for coffee and pastry sales, I can't imagine that the cushy chairs result in increased sales.
I always thought of B&N (and its former competition, Borders) as high cost private enterprise libraries. Sit and enjoy the WiFi, read the magazines and books, kill a few hours and you don't even have to re-shelve the items.
And, oh yeah, then order it from Amazon and get it delivered to your doorstep for free and no sales tax (not OR, of course).
The irony being that I actually think small bookstores will do all right. We offer something that Amazon can't. Barnes and Noble has a huge selection and some discounts -- Amazon has a huger selection and bigger discounts.
They're having done to them what B & N did to us
But, from my perspective -- books seem almost like an easy sell. I shouldn't say that. But...compared to comics, they seem kind of easy.
I was fortunate enough to have tickets to Pink Martini at Les Schwab Amp. and to John Prine at ACB in the last 6 weeks...
Finding parking at both events was a nightmare.
The difference between the two shows was at ACB there wasn't a visible swath of thousands of freeloaders hanging outside of the venue.
On the other hand, at the Pink Martini show, on a Friday night, I walked past thousands of people camped out on the east shore of the Deschutes River enjoying Pink Martini's excellent sound system as I walked past them to get to the venue.
Basically the area that the Old Mill is closing had more visitors than the paying crowd at the show that night.
What really caught my eye in the article was that people are complaining to the Old Mill District about poor sound quality outside of the venue...
F...ing freeloaders...
that is the equiv of downloading a bootleg copy of an ebook and bitching at the author about typos and grammar errors.
MY experience with "free" giveaways is that sure...you can offer say a free widget with the purchase of a new gizmo.
But once the customer takes the deal, they just go back to their regular shop or service provider anyway and think themselves clever for getting something for nothing.
Post a Comment