Talking about the "1111 Book Discount War" from the Consumer's Perspective

Regarding the e-commerce platform offering a 29% discount on new books and a 14% discount (almost 64% off the price) on new books on "1111", whether it is a discussion that books as a commodity should conform to the market mechanism, or whether independent bookstores should propose How to deal with the countermeasures, to be honest, it is not a single word that can solve the problems accumulated under the long-term book discount war.

I want to talk about "discounts" from a consumer's point of view.

29% discount on new books is almost the norm for various channels now, but this is not a change that happened overnight, but the result of the online bookstores first setting a precedent and gradually expanding, and finally each channel has to do it. When I was in high school, my pocket money was limited. I also often read books on Eslite to buy books on blogs, and became a customer who complained about physical channels. If you have any impressions, in fact, for a long time, Eslite did not offer 21% off new books. But now they have to follow up. Obviously, the money-saving mentality of readers who tend to be low and avoid high has long been fed by discounts.

After 29% off new books, discounts such as 64% off single-day single books and 10% off the whole museum have appeared one after another. The 66% discount for a single day is actually not a big incentive for me, because there is only one book a day, when will it be my turn to read the book that I am thinking about? But the "XX discount for the whole library" is different for me. It almost makes me rush. I don't buy books until the special price. I must admit that this is the result of me having to pay carefully under the limited budget. If you can buy an extra copy, why not do it? So I blogged about buying diamond memberships for several years in a row. Until I was financially comfortable, I could occasionally buy books without caring about discounts.

If "e-commerce kills 66% off" happened when I was in high school or college, would I go shopping happily and start looking forward to the next discount? Like "Membership Day", will it gradually change my spending habits and feed my desire for discounts?

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"Saving money" is the inevitable behavior of most consumers who do not have financial freedom. For me, checking out without looking at the price only exists in the game "Animal Crossing". When the 29% discount has become a habit, the original price has become a false one, and "why is the new book not discounted" has become a natural question for consumers. So when consumers get used to 66% off? The 29% discount has become a fake, will it also become a matter of course that "I will never buy it if it is less than 64% off"? In fact, I have no confidence that I can resist the temptation of discount.

In case, a 66% discount becomes the norm one day in the future, and when the cost remains unchanged or even increases with the price, the publishing house can only digest the discount that consumers desire by "increasing the original price". The original 300 yuan book is 29% off. 237 yuan, it has to be raised to 350 yuan (66% off 231 yuan) in order to "not lose money". In such a situation, consumers get only superficially "good-looking" discounts. Worse yet, once consumers are gradually paralyzed by the 66% discount, will there be a "breaking price" of 50% or 40% off in the future? But no matter how the price is adjusted, the wool comes from the sheep. Consumers complain about the increase in book prices while waiting for discounts. Publishers can only keep raising the price to make up for the loss of discounts. The discount war will eventually become a battle of numbers.

As far as the current situation is concerned, unless the government intervenes compulsorily, the 29% discount is already a reality that cannot be changed. If the 66% discount becomes the norm, it will definitely not be a favorable thing for publishers and consumers.

Every kind of consumption is a choice. Of course, choosing to boycott and choose to support brick-and-mortar bookstores is a way for publishing practitioners and obsessive readers to show their determination and defend their dignity, but what about ordinary consumers? In some reading clubs, it can be seen that many people do not understand the reason why the publishing house jumped with independent bookstores. After all, discounts are in front of them. For those who like to read books, it is the purpose to buy a few more books. The long-term worries brought by it are not within the scope of consumers' consideration.

I didn't want to publish too much in this wave of discussions, until some articles began to transmit some wrong messages in the reading community, so I decided to publish this article. I am a publishing practitioner, but I am also a long-term veteran reader of books. I believe that many fans may, like me, clearly feel the conflict between discounts for consumers and discounts for publishers. It is difficult for people to put themselves in other people's shoes, but it is impossible to ignore their own interests. If we talk like this, can consumers better understand that "64% off" is not entirely "beneficial"?