Book battle continues online
We reported recently that small bookshops are under increasing pressure from the buying power of large retailers, especially the ubiquitous supermarkets.
Now it seems like the online books market is becoming more fierce, too, as Waterstone's announces it will no longer work in partnership with online bookshop giant Amazon.
At the moment, visitors to Waterstone's website are directed to a branded version of Amazon, which includes a wide range of books but no DVDs, CDs or games like the main Amazon site.
Waterstone's plans to launch a rival online bookshop in the autumn and is set to go head-to-head with its previous partner. This move seems to have been inspired by a drop in sales in Waterstone's traditional bricks and mortar outlets, which fell by 5.6% since the beginning of the year.
