Following a price drop last February when it announced it would cut prices on books to 20% below Amazon.com’s pricing, Overstock.com this week again cut prices on books. The online discounter says that for the balance of September, it will price best-selling books to 25% below the price of the same books at Amazon. Overstock compares the Amazon price and its price on the same books on its site side by side.
CEO Patrick Byrne, noting strong customer response to the original 20% below Amazon pricing offer, characterizes the additional price cut as “an experiment. We are interested in seeing how customers respond to such significant discounts on the most popular tiles. We believe our unique combination of lower pricing and fast, efficient customer service will prove enormously attractive to readers,” he says.
Overstock initially launched its 20% off Amazon pricing initiative last February with more than 100,000 book titles. Currently, it carries some 250,000 book titles. In June Overstock reported that it has sold more than 1 million books, music and video products since it launched the category last November. The discount pricing tied to Amazon's pricing has built Overstock's book sales rapidly, with the company reporting that book sales in August were 471% greater than in January, the last month prior to the introduction of the new pricing program.
Back...
