[mdorazio]

I don't see how this can be cost competitive. You would have to add a percentage on every purchase high enough to cover the entire overhead of the store, including property and employees, while at the same time maintaining a large enough selection to get people into the store instead of going online in the first place. There's also no guarantee that people won't do what they do today, which is browse in the store and then go straight to Amazon on their phone to save money instead of using your scan approach.

[toyg]

The margin is already there today, but it’s “under siege” by Amazon prices. My model would shrink it a bit per item (getting closer to the Amazon one) and then recoup it in aggregate by dramatically reducing local inventory while ensuring the same (or higher) amount of total sales. Basically you shrink costs while making it easier for customers to give you money.

Obviously you cannot stop people from going to Amazon anyway, but if you make it easy enough and convenient enough for customers to buy stuff right away (including ebooks, which currently are not sold in-stores at all), I think you have a good chance to compete.

[solarkraft]

Now the only problem left is: Why would I go so in the first place? To browse? For the nice book store feeling?

Maybe some people do that. Since I just read E-books that were recommended to me I'm long lost anyway.

[toyg]

Some of the best books I’ve read in my life, I picked up almost randomly in a store - maybe they were highlighted by employees, maybe they had a particularly nice cover or backcover... that feeling of having discovered a gem on my own, or the fun of spending an hour browsing dozens of books to find The One, maybe talking about it with friends or employees, is so satisfying that it keeps me going back.

The online experience is severely lacking, imho. Maybe it will be different for generations that grew up with Amazon, but to me the bookstore experience is superior. I think they are missing a trick by not allowing me to couple their experience of serendipitous discovery with the convenience of ebooks.