Ich habe eine Hausarbeit zum Thema Buchpreisbindung in Deutschland geschrieben.... Da ich jetzt ein Jahr kein Englisch mehr hatte wäre es toll wenn ihr mal drüber gucken könntet und Verbesserungsvorschläge geben könntet.
Vielen Dank für Eure Antworten und Euer Feedback. Gruß, Tobi:spin:
Essay: Do we still need a Fixed Book Price Agreement in Germany?
Today I would like to talk about the question if the German book market still needs a Fixed Book Price Agreement or not. Before I start my argumentation, I think it is useful to give a short definition of what a Fixed Book Price Agreement is.
A FBPA is a form of resale price maintenance. Every country which has a FBPA has own rules and other names for it. In common is, that there is an agreement between publishers and booksellers which set the prices at which books were to be sold, or that there is a book price regulation by law.
The goals are to protect the cultural artifact book, to allow a wide range and diversity of different books, and to enable an exhausting supply of books nationwide. But how is that implemented with the help of a FBPA?
One idea is that profits from bestsellers and often sold books can help to publish culturally, socially or scientifically important books which have a very small number of copies and are therefore not really profitable for the publishers. Another idea is that with a FBPA it is easier to survive for sma
ll bookshops and small publishers that are run from the owner, compared with big book chains and big publishing groups.
If there is no FBPA, the chains could drive down the prices, the small bookshops would crash, and two main goals of the FBPA would be in danger: The exhausting nationwide supply with books, and also the diversity of books.
So on the first glance, the FBPA looks like a good invention. But what do their opponents say? Why should we disestablish the old regulation? I guess the main argument is that it is never good to regulate a free market. If there is a free trade market, every decision is made mainly under economic aspects, and companies with more money or with a better price structure can rule easier over other businesses. Some big publishers and big bookshops would be happy.
Foreign companies could in view of the regulation complain that it is difficult to enter the German book market, and that there are competitive distortions because of the price fixing. Also the European Union has some problems with the different regulations in its member states, because they disturb the free trade.
Customers could come to the conclusion that a free market could lead to cheaper book prices. So, should we perhaps just abolish the old system?
If we want to know what could happen if we cancel the book price fixing, we should have a glance to the United Kingdom. After the collapse of the
fixing, the big chains gained on strength and the book prices fell. Supermarket chains started to offer some bestsellers on low prices. 15 Years after the collapse of the agreement 500 independent bookshops had closed forever. Non-British companies started to enter the domestic market and changed it.
Apart from this, a big problem for the German market could emerge in regard to the development on the ebook market. In the USA for example, an ebook coasts in average just 1,53 Dollar per copy because there is no price fixing. Ebooks are sold in bundles, in combination with a printed book, or in combination with flat-rate downloads. A price war between the big publishers is taking place.
If we disestablish the fixing in Germany, the high esteem of books could get lost, if customers would get used to buy high-quality content for one or two euros as an ebook. So this would amplify the run to an ebook and the price decline of a printed book copy.
Another problem would be the big mail-order houses. Because this companies have no stationary shops and a totally different company and pricing structure, they could sell books to much lower prices. Amazon, for example, has a very aggressive policy of expansion and pricing. In the USA, they sell goods also under the profit line to gain on market share. I am convinced that just two or three global players like amazon could destroy and change the German book market within one or two years.
This would not only be a loss of thousands of independent bookshops and jobs, but also a loss of cultural diversity.
Even if it is very difficult to take in consideration every possible advantage and disadvantage of the regulation I come to the conclusion that we should disestablish the book price fixing in no case! The book market faces big changes.
With all the changes on the market we need the fixing more than ever, to preserve a certain stability.