Brett Fenton
Case on Copperfield’s Books Inc.
Issue
The issue in the case of Copperfield’s Books Inc is that they are a small chain in an industry dominated by big-box book chains. This memo will discuss why Copperfield’s Books Inc is in trouble and it will also offer alternatives for Copperfield’s Books Inc.
Industry Analysis – Traditional Book Retailers
Traditional book retailers across the nation of all shapes and sizes are facing some of the same problems. One of these problems is that internet-only firms such as Amazon have eaten into the overall market for books. As of 2002 internet firms accounted for 8.1% of all units sold in the industry. This is an increase over past years and it is a trend that is likely to continue as the internet retailers begin to reach more customers. There are two reasons to believe that internet retailers will continue to increase their market share. The first reason is that not every person in the country has internet access yet, so the growth potential in that industry translates to growth potential in this market. The second reason is because many of the internet retailers are unknown to a percentage of the population. The brand awareness is not fully established for most internet firms like it is for long standing brick and mortar firms.
The second problem that the traditional book retailing industry faces is that much of the information that educational books cover is now available for free on the internet. This could have an effect some potential customers in that these potential customers would feel that they can get the same information for free on the internet.
Strengths ...