Electronic Commerce: Implications for University Bookshops

This paper investigates the plight of small university bookshops that are increasingly experiencing the competitive impact of electronic commerce. The paper provides an industry structure and a competitor analysis in order to develop measures that university bookshops may take to withstand the competitive pressures. Using the example of a medium-size Danish university bookshop, the paper argues that university bookshops should no longer consider themselves solely to be in book retailing. Instead, soon, their competitive advantage will come from their ability to collect information on academics’ book recommendations and on the extent to which they can keep this information from their competitors and customers until sales have been made. Hence, the paper suggests that the major opportunities for university bookshops will be to build up targeted on-line communities with members stemming mainly from faculty and student bodies.