Book lovers should prepare themselves for disappointment if they think the long awaited entry of global online juggernaut Amazon into Australian bookselling will trigger an immediate price discount war.
But be under no illusion - an Amazon Australia is a game changer.
The global online bookseller announced the arrival of its British-based subsidiary, Book Depository, in the Australian market on Tuesday with a promise that more than 25,000 Australian titles would now be available to its customers in 116 countries and shipped from Melbourne to speed delivery.
The BookDepository.com group managing director, Chris McKee, said in a press release: "You can now share your enjoyment of The Great Australian Cookbook with your parents in England, or the humour of Anh Do's Weirdo series with your nephews in Japan and all with free delivery.
"We're thrilled to be able to add even more local Australian books – particularly those from up-and-coming authors – to our existing selection."
With 12 years to prepare for its arrival, the homegrown online retailer Booktopia plans to face down its new competition with a business combination of ready-to-ship and hand-curated, discounted titles, deep ties to publishers and the kind of chutzpah that saw it jumping today on Amazon's public relations bandwagon.
Booktopia has 83 per cent of Australian online book sales, shipping four million books a year within Australia from its Sydney warehouse.
It has positioned itself as a book lovers' destination rather than a "discount widget shop", as one local publisher describes Amazon.
"We will be conducting business as usual," says Nash. "We never engaged in a price discounting model to be the cheapest. We always offer heavily discounted prices that are not necessarily the cheapest but are in the ball park.
"Our point of difference is the 110,000 stocked titles ready to ship; our 1300 Sydney-based number of our call centre is on the website so people can call us; our hand curation of titles on our website by book experts, employing Australia's leading book experts to write blogs, newsletters and conduct podcasts and videos in our recording studio to assist readers to discover books they want to read and own, plus many other initiatives. Our focus is to add value through the book-buying purchase."
That's not to say there won't be discounting and downward pressure on paperback prices but, having seen off the threat posed by e-books for now and with internet retailing having already pushed prices lower, local retailers know too well they cannot survive a full-blown war.
Amazon is not just the world's largest online retailer but the largest retailer in market value. It bought Book Depository in 2011.
Australians have been able to buy from the Book Depository in Britain, with most of the business in overseas titles.
Late last year, the company started dispatching Australian books from Melbourne to Australian customers who place orders on the Book Depository website through a third-party packaging company, DAI Postal, and Australia Post.
Book Depository has spent months approaching Australian publishers about selling their books and the expectation is that more local titles will become available. That could potentially provide increased sales for small publishers looking for wider distribution of their books, and bigger sales for their authors.
Book Depository claims its presence "is particularly favourable for new or up and coming Australian authors who don't have representation overseas - it means if they're on Bookdepository.com they have instant access to a global audience".
But Sydney publisher Jane Curry of Ventura Press said she was offering loyalty to Booktopia given its support for the local market.
"Tony Nash is interested in the book business as an entire industry, not just a discount sales-driven model."
The Australian Publishers' Association says any discussions between publishers and retailers are private arrangements. Its chief executive, Michael Gordon-Smith, says the presence of a "very efficient" retailer like Amazon could encourage the wider consumption of books, and that is a good thing. He is hopeful a new entrant could also put pressure on high postal prices inside Australia.
And with luck, the good work of independent retailers in developing strong book communities will continue, says Gordon-Smith.
Nash thinks there might be some closures of brick and mortar stores down the track but only those that had "lost the appetite to spoil the customer with good old-fashioned service".
"A great physical bookstore can really assist you with your search for a good book and a great bookseller has thousands of titles that they can reel off the top of their head if someone needs a recommendation," he says. "Those kind of bookstores will continue to prosper."
John Page, owner of Pages and Pages bookshop in Mosman, Sydney, said he was curious about whether Book Depository would pay GST.
"I've always said I would welcome Amazon to Australia if they played by the local rules, but are they going to abide by Australian consumer law? Can the ACCC do anything against an overseas-based company using a third party for its distribution?"
He noted the discount on Australian titles has been "a lot lower" than on other books, possibly because of higher postal costs in Australia than in Britain.
All this speculation comes at a time when the book industry is in a state of upheaval. The government plans to do away with "parallel import restrictions", which limit the availability of cheaper books published overseas if Australian-published versions of the books are available.
Ultimately, Nash thinks there probably isn't room for two Australian-based online retailers.
"The reason I say that is because the barrier to entry is extremely high," he says. "It will cost a company these days $20 million to get to $20 million in revenue. There has to be better ways to invest your money with a faster return.
"Booktopia is on track for $80-plus million this year so it would take a long time to catch up. International players operating in our market are slightly different. They can leverage off their infrastructure and avoid local Australian taxes and wages which are much higher than many other countries."
