United States: booksellers mobilize against Amazon
Because of book sales on Amazon at least 20% of bookstores are at risk of closing by the end of the year.
REUTERS / Brendan McDermid / File Photo
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
This is a first in the United States: American bookstores are mobilizing against Amazon.
The ABA, the American Association of Bookstores, has just launched an advertising campaign called "Boxed out" against the American e-commerce giant to warn about the danger that online book sales represent for the survival of bookstores and neighborhood life.
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More than 35 bookstores that are members of the American Bookstores Association have lowered the curtain and laid off their staff, and that's just the beginning, fears Allison Hill, director of ABA.
“
At least 20% of our bookstores are at risk of closing by the end of the year.
And we are below reality.
A very large number are in the red and have no more cash.
We have launched this campaign to try to end this
"Amazon trance",
which makes people find it easier to click to buy.
They don't realize that this choice has consequences.
And then with Amazon, there is no personal relationship, no advice.
So we want to make them aware of all this, but not serious, with intelligence and humor.
I was in New York yesterday and visited the bookstores that displayed our ads.
Well people stopped, they took pictures.
And on social networks, a hundred bookstores joined our campaign.
"
Some neighborhood bookstores, like Solid State Books in Washington, have covered their storefronts with large brown boxes to mimic the packages sent by Amazon or displayed slogans like "
Books chosen by people, not by a creepy algorithm
" or "
Don't let Amazon become the Big Brother of tomorrow
”, in reference to“ 1984 ”, George Orwell's cult book.
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France / Bookstore / Culture / books / literature
In the face of Amazon, independent bookstores are resisting