The sky is not falling
It wasn’t long ago that futurists were predicting a brave new world of online retail outlets that would make the bricks-and-mortar shop almost obsolete. (These same futurists also predicted the “paperless office” and the dominance of the e-book.) Though there is no doubt that online booksales have diverted a sizeable portion of sales from the traditional retail book market, an article in The Guardian points out that used-book dealers have actually profited from the Internet. Richard Adams writes: “While shops selling the latest Harry Potter or Tom Clancy novel have had to grapple with competition from online upstarts offering deep discounts and convenient delivery, the fusty world of second-hand bookselling has increasingly embraced the net not just to compete, but also to expand its horizons.” The article looks at a number of online used-book success stories, big and small, including Canada’s Abebooks, considered to be the most successful of the bunch.
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Read The Guardian article
