UK: Agency Pricing Questioned by Waterstone's

The Bookseller:

Waterstone's has publicly queried the agency model, saying its adoption in the UK has 'not been great for anyone' and pricing has not always been fair on consumers.

E-books buyer Alex Ingram was speaking at FutureBook 2010, The Bookseller's digital conference. ...

Ingram said: "No one can judge the success or failure of the agency model just yet, but in the short term it has not been great for anyone. . . What matters most is getting a fair price onto the market, and I don't think that every agency price is fair."

Kieron Smith, managing director of The Book Depository, which has declined to accept agency terms, said: "We do a lot of 'couponing' and the agency model makes it very difficult to do any general discounting. We have a strong customer position that we do not want to change." ...