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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince (Book 6)
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Harry Potter might receive lessons in defense
against the dark arts, but fans of J. K. Rowling's books will be helpless
in the face of the most powerfully marketed book in British publishing
history.
The penultimate
chronicle of the boy wizard's
life at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will be released at
midnight on Saturday to cheers from children and howls from accountants.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has started a huge price war as
shops sacrifice profit for market share. The two biggest price-cutters
yesterday were Asda and Tesco's online service, both of which offered the
book for ￡8.96, a 47 per cent reduction on the recommended retail price of
￡16.99.
The price is likely to be reduced again by the weekend as retailers
compete to have the best advertised price. Asda has promised to refund the difference to anyone who
finds a cheaper copy elsewhere.
For the previous instalment, Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix, Tesco.com reduced its price to ￡7.64 - a discount of
55 per cent.
More than 1.7 million readers will buy the book in the first 24 hours
and an estimated 3.2 million will buy it within the first week, a feat
unmatched by any author in Britain.
John Grisham and Terry Pratchett, the most popular writers of adult
fiction, will sell no more than 20,000 books in the first week of sale.
Bookshops and supermarkets know that if they can get just 0.6 per cent
of first week sales of Harry Potter, it is equivalent to having a monopoly
on John Grisham. Supermarkets have the added bonus that readers are also
likely to spend money on other products and will associate the shop with
their favourite book.
Supermarkets believe this so strongly that they are prepared to
sacrifice millions of pounds in profits. If all retailers sold the book at
full price, they would make an estimated ￡68 million. If the average price
is ￡9.99, they will make ￡40 million, a loss of ￡28 million that goes
straight to the consumer.
Most retailers refused to state their final price in the hope that
their rivals will hold firm, preventing an expensive spiral of discounts.
Bloomsbury, J. K. Rowling's publisher, does not declare the price at
which it sells the books to retailers, but it is likely to be 55 per cent
lower than the cover price. Supermarkets that promise to have the lowest
prices cannot sink much below ￡7.64 before they make a loss.
(Agencies) |
哈利·波特可能會在魔法學校學到如何對抗邪惡勢力，但面對這本英國出版史上促銷力度最大的書，J·K·羅琳的追隨者們卻無計可施。
《哈利·波特》系列的倒數第二部作品將在本周六（7月16日）午夜零點發行，屆時將迎來孩子們的歡呼，以及“帳房先生”們的哀號。這本書描寫了小男巫哈利在霍格沃茨魔法學校的生活。
由于店家們為贏得市場份額寧肯犧牲利潤，《哈利·波特與混血王子》現已展開一場聲勢浩大的價格戰。昨天降價幅度最大的要屬兩家著名超市ASDA和Tesco的網上商店了，它們均將新書的價格定在8.96英鎊，這比推薦零售價16.99美元要低47%。
由于零售商期望通過競爭贏得最佳廣告價，本周末書價將有可能再次下降。Asda超市已做出承諾，如果消費者發現其他商家的售價更低，超市將返還差價。
之前，Tesco.com曾將前一部《哈利·波特與鳳凰令》的售價下調到7.64英鎊，降幅達到55%。
預計新書發行首日會有超過170萬讀者為它掏腰包，而發行一周內的購買人數將達到320萬。在英國，任何一位作家都難以與其匹敵。
即使是最暢銷成人小說作家約翰·葛里遜和特里·普萊奇的新書，發行一周內的銷量也不過2萬冊。
各家書店和超市都明白，只要他們能拿到《哈利·波特》新書發行首周銷量的0.6%，就和取得約翰·葛里遜小說的獨家發行權差不多了。況且，讀者還可能因買書而在超市選購其他物品，并把他們最喜歡的圖書與商店聯系在一起，這些都會令商家受益。
各家超市都堅信這一點，因此他們已準備好犧牲數百萬英鎊的利潤。假使所有零售商都以全價出售該書，預計他們的利潤會達到6800萬英鎊。如果新書的平均售價為9.99英鎊，利潤則降到4000萬英鎊，從而損失2800萬英鎊。
大多數零售商都拒絕公布新書的最后定價，盼望著競爭對手可以把價格抬高，以防書價大幅下滑。
J·K·羅琳的出版商布盧姆茨伯里公司并未公布零售商的訂貨價位，不過預計可能會比封面標價低55%。那些承諾擁有最低價的超市不可能把書價定在7.64英鎊以下，否則就會面臨虧損。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-07-13 10:20
