Amazon - How much longer can we count on it?
-
Living in Germany many english and japanese books I like, I have no other choice (there is no real alternative for me, when I want books written in a different language) buying over Amazon (for the japanese ones I‘m using the japanese Amazon). Now there is a discussion, that Amazon will soon cease to exist (even its founder said so). For me this means, being stuck with only german books in the future, an absolutely horror future in my eyes.
How do you see this/how do you think about it? Will Amazon really disappear? -
This post is deleted! -
While there are certainly people who wish to destroy Amazon, it isn't going to happen very soon. It's just as likely that the member states of the EU will trip over themselves to get a bigger share of the money Amazon makes.
-
I doubt Amazon will cease to exist any time soon.
But there are always alternatives - shops like Bookdepository or Wordery have free almost worldwide delivery (even though some of them are owned by amazon).
Also you can order books you want in some brick-and-mortar bookstores (there probably are some in Germany as well) -
This post is deleted! -
I'm from germany too and know stores where you can get physical volumes of light novels other than amazon even german stores.
As examples here we have Thalia one of the biggest bookstore chains in germany
You can also order books to a local store.But for some novels you have the problem that you can't get the older volumes
So here is another buecher.de
thou i don't think amazone will ever cease to exist.
And even if they all stop you can just go to a local book store with the ISBN and ask if they are willing to get you a copy.
-
And even if they all stop you can just go to a local book store with the ISBN and ask if they are willing to get you a copy.
This could work with english books, but I doubt, that it works with japanese ones...
-
As noted at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/16/jeff-bezos-amazon-will-fail-recording-report Jeff Bezos told staff back in November 2018 that "Amazon is not too big to fail … In fact, I predict one day Amazon will fail. Amazon will go bankrupt. If you look at large companies, their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years, ... If we start to focus on ourselves instead of focusing on our customers, that will be the beginning of the end, ...We have to try and delay that day for as long as possible."
I think he was saying it more out of trying to prevent complacency than an actual expectation that Amazon would fail in the foreseeable future.
Stay shiny, y'all.
-
@clarabelle well you won't get japanese books on amazon.de (amazon.com is another story) without importing them from japan so you can just directly go to cdjapan, ebay or somewhere else and order them there. As they come from out of the EU you would always have to pay import fees.
Another option would be to order them from a japanese shop in duesseldorf which has the biggest japanese population in germany and many japanese bookstores (I prefere their bakeries thou xD ).
Also I don't think that Amazon would fail in the near future. I don't remember were I saw the online market sales charts but Amazon had over 25 percent of all online sales in germany. I can't imagine that at least in america or europe amazon would shut down operations in the near future.
There could be a problem with the versatile portfolio thou. Maybe they will splitt some branches into new companies. Another problem could be Alibaba which is outclassing Amazon and probably reduces sales opportunities in asia.
-
There are a number of vendors out there that will ship Japanese products (not just books) all over the world. There is a vendor on eBay that I have used that will create an eBay auction for you for just about anything you want to order; I used them a lot, until I broke down and created an Amazon.co.jp account last year.
If you're worried about kindle content "going dead", you can remove the DRM from the files in a few minutes.
Companies of all sizes run out of money at some point. Amazon wasn't even profitable for many years, but it still didn't run out of money. Now the EU claims they have all the money in the world. Except for all the money in the world that Facebook has. And Alphabet has.
-
@qeeh said in Amazon - How much longer can we count on it?:
And even if they all stop you can just go to a local book store with the ISBN and ask if they are willing to get you a copy.
That assumes one has a local bookshop. They've gotten few and far between in my area over the last 15 years.
-
@clarabelle well you won't get japanese books on amazon.de (amazon.com is another story) without importing them from japan so you can just directly go to cdjapan, ebay or somewhere else and order them there. As they come from out of the EU you would always have to pay import fees.
You‘ve forgot the japanese amazon. I‘m using it for buying japanese books too and so far it is the easiest and best possibilty to get such books (for books long out of print I‘m using ebay). You don‘t need to go to the customs each time and they already arrive after a few days.
I can really understand @Claire-Lilly‘s fears. I‘m scared of a future without amazon too... I just hope, that there will be good and not too expensive alternatives, if it ever happens. -
I think he was saying it more out of trying to prevent complacency than an actual expectation that Amazon would fail in the foreseeable future.
You really give me hope.😊
