Matt Bullock
04 October 2011
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, James Daunt, the managing director of Waterstone's, the largest high street book chain in the U.K., said that after 13 years of operating in Britain, Amazon now sells the same number of books as the chain retailer. Daunt said companies will continue to lose to the online retailer unless they can offer more products at lower prices.
The retail executive, however, said consumers are missing out on the in-store experience when they shop for books online, and he believes Amazon and similar online retailers offer a "dispiriting" place to shop. But Daunt admits his store has experienced falling sales and intense competition from online retailers, and he plans to create a Waterstone's digital e-reader to compete with Amazon's Kindle in 2012. Amazon currently sells more than 1.4 million books, including digital books for consumers to download to their mobile devices.
The success of Amazon compared to high street book retailers should inspire bricks-and-mortar retailers to extend their businesses' reach into the e-commerce industry. But QuBit CEO Graham Cooke told Mashable that many retailers can lose sales even after launching a website by not converting site visitors into purchasing customers.
According to Cooke, many issues can lead to decreased online sales including shipping information and website speed. If information about shipping prices or expected shipment dates is missing or appears to be hidden, consumers may lose trust in the site. Similarly, if a page takes a long time to load, consumers may get impatient and look to another site.
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