So what took so long for a UK MP to investigate the massive price wars going on between Tesco, Asda, and Waterstone’s, leaving the poor chains pretty much to fend for themselves (if they’ve elected not to stock HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS at all?) But now, according to the Evening Standard, Conservative MP Charles Walker has called for an urgent inquiry into the prices supermarkets will charge, saying the price war would put huge pressure on independent retailers who cannot compete with the giants. “I’ve already written to the Office of Fair Trading to ask them to look into this but we need a full-scale investigation,” he said.
“A lot of small bookshops survive off the profits of just four or five blockbusters rather than a wide range of books, and here we have a situation where supermarkets are effectively selling books at a loss to get people in. That may promote literacy in the short term but it will force more book retailers into liquidation. This price war takes away the oxygen of economic survival from the smaller businesses, making it difficult to remain viable. The same can be said for small shops overshadowed by supermarket monsters.” But at this late juncture, I can’t see the OFT doing much about it, so on with the 60 percent-plus discounting at a supermarket near you!