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A MONTH HAS passed since Amazon launched its dedicated Irish website.
On its first day, the retail giant promised “over 200 million products”, prices set in Euro, one-day delivery and “easier returns” as part of the offering. Taoiseach Micheál Martin praised the move at the time, deeming it “good news for all”.
But some small retailers expressed concern about the impact the Irish leg of the retail giant might have on them in the long run. Booksellers in particular were vocal about the struggle to compete with the largest online retailer in the world.
Kennys Bookshop is an independent, family-run book store which opened in Galway in 1940. It is also now the world’s oldest online bookshop, having gone online in 1994 – just one year before Amazon opened its virtual doors.
Tomás Kenny, whose grandparents established Kennys, has worked there for over 25 years. He told The Journal that in the week that Amazon’s Irish site launched, his store actually saw an increase in orders.
“There was a drop-off then a few days later. It was as if people that were going to order on Friday ordered on Monday or whatever, to try and support us,” Kenny said.
He said that the store has seen neither a huge rise or a drop in sales in the last month, which is what he would have expected anyway.
Those in the bookselling industry believe that people who buy books all year round will continue to go to their local book shop or online bookseller, Kenny said, but the worry is those who buy books as gifts around Christmas.
“There’s a worry that, as it comes up towards Christmas, what’ll start to happen is people will just default to Amazon. It’s such a big, ubiquitous name that people stop and they go, ‘I’ll just buy off Amazon. I won’t even check anywhere else’,” he said.
“I’m not saying it will happen, it may or may not, but even if people buy a handful of books, if it’s a few percent of the market [Amazon] get, and they take a few percent off every single book shop in Ireland, that’s going to have very big consequences.
“When news like this happens, it’s not so much the short-term that you see an impact, it’s in the long-term.”
Chapters Bookstore in Dublin also has not seen any shift in their sales as a result of Amazon.ie’s launch. Mick Finucane, who is the co-owner of the independent Parnell Street bookshop, told The Journal that they feel lucky to have a loyal customer base.
“The fact that there’s a shiny toy on the market hasn’t really affected them in any way at the moment, because I suppose the things that attract them to Chapters are the things that you can’t replicate with Amazon,” Finucane said.
“We’ve had couples get engaged here, we’ve had couples have their wedding pictures here, it’s a spot for people to go on first dates. We operate in a different aspect of the market than Amazon does.”
According to Kenny, bookselling is a “very low-margin business”, with many of the booksellers “vocation-esque” about their jobs.
It’s quite difficult. People are near the breadline as it is.
The impact of Brexit is still being felt by booksellers in Ireland, who now have to navigate customs when bringing in stock from the UK, where a large proportion of all books sold here are published.
A more recent challenge for bookshops has been the expansion of the Government’s free schoolbooks scheme. Under the scheme, schools get quotes from three different retailers, and must choose the cheapest one.
As a result, some shops have had to give major discounts on products and say they have had to introduce further cuts to what were already small margins.
“Parents would go into their local bookshop and buy the school books there. Now the school is doing a tender and it’s having to go to the supplier. All those bookshops are no longer supplying school books. They’ve lost that business,” Kenny said.
Kenny, who is on the committee of Ireland’s Booksellers Association, said that with the free schoolbooks scheme now extended to the Leaving Cert, they expect that “an awful lot” of bookshops will close or announce that they will close in January.
The addition of Amazon.ie to the market is a further pressure on bookshops. The company is the dominant force in both the US and the UK bookmarkets, controlling over 50% of sales. Some bookshops who have closed their doors in recent years have cited the competition with larger online companies as one of the reasons for shutting.
But Kenny said that while people think of Amazon as a cheap and fast service, this is not always the case.
He searched Amazon.ie for Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, one of the bestselling books in the country for the last couple of years. He found 17 sellers, but none of them were based in Ireland.
“The book is coming from Germany or the US or the UK, so it’s not going to come as quickly as it would from Ireland. Similarly, the price is going to be quite expensive,” he said.
Finucane also believes that there is a “misconception” that Amazon has the cheapest price and offers the best value. “There’s more to value than just the price,” he said.
“There’s local bookstores or local shops all throughout the country, and they’re supporting local football teams or book clubs, or giving your kids work experience when they’re on TY, or they’ve got a Saturday job for your children. These are all important aspects that add worth and adds to our community.”
He said the last thing that anyone wants to see is “the decimation of high streets and small towns and villages throughout the country”.
“You only have to look at the UK and drive around the north of England, drive to the smaller towns and things like that, and you’ll see empty units, shops boarded up.
“The sense of community that is missing when these things come out of our community, because we all want to meet each other. We’re human. We want to see and engage with each other. That’s what we thrive on.”
Kenny said that while he believes the Government has done a lot for small businesses in the last number of years, including business grants and rates relief, he was “depressed” by the Government “talking up” Amazon’s Irish website when it launched last month.
He said that what the online retailer has done to the traditional retail landscape in other countries has been “absolutely catastrophic”.
“The retail landscape in Ireland, which is already fairly depressing in many towns and even some of the cities, I think could get an awful lot worse if we’re not very careful.”
With Amazon here to stay, Kenny believes it is the job of every other bookseller in the country to be better than Amazon, “which we absolutely can do”.
I don’t accept the argument that some people put forward, saying it’s impossible to compete with Amazon because they’re the biggest company in the world. To hell with that. We can do better than that.
“We can get books to people quicker and cheaper and with better customer service. That’s the aim, and we’re not alone in that. That has to be the aim, to improve ourselves, rather than to just shake our fist at Amazon.”
Chapters recently launched their first online website, which promises same-day delivery in Dublin if you buy before 1pm. “Amazon haven’t been able to do that yet,” Finucane said.
However, he said that Jeff Bezos’s company is only going to improve as time goes on.
“The resources are there. There’s unlimited capital there, in comparison to the independent sector… This is the worst they’re going to be. But hopefully, we’ll get better as well.
“Competition can be good. It can raise your game. We’re looking at this as an opportunity to improve, to try and give the customer the best service we can, because it’s ultimately going to be their decision.
“We all need to offer good service and good value, because people work too hard to not get good service and good value.”
Amazon was contacted for comment.
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