MPH, Popular and their Daft-ly Wallows

This would be my first open criticism about the latest fracas in Malaysia about selling the latest Harry Potter book. Shame on you, Malaysian booksellers!

In one corner of the world there is a place called London. There were pre-orders, long queues, costume dress-ups and a great fanfare to usher the launch of the new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book. In another corner, 11000km away, there is a tiff about whether the book should be sold at a premium or not at all. The misunderstanding started when two hypermarkets fired the first salvo in a huge price cut of the book that could not be matched by the local (bigger) booksellers. It was RM40 (or £6) below the published rates of the booksellers. RM40 is a huge savings to Malaysians. While £6 could only buy me a decent meal at the restaurants here, the same amount could buy me 10 Chinese or Malay takeaways at the local foodstalls in KL.

I was peeved after reading about it in the online dailies, not because of the higher premium that Malaysians were charged or could have saved if not for the two hypermarkets but rather at the attitude of the booksellers who were unwilling to face and brace competition as part and parcel of their business. Blame it on globalisation, blame it on level playing fields, blame it on size or whatever we call it, businesses have to reinvent, modernise, cut cost without cutting corners and stay on top of the game lest they will be devoured by the better players who could.

One of the major bookshops that took the latest Harry Potter book off the shelves

The apex of the claim on anti-competitive behaviour came when the booksellers informed that they would rather keep their stocks in store rather than selling them at a RM4 (60p) margin which the two hypermarkets were alleged to make in every book sold. They rationalised that they could sell their stocks after the two hypermarkets run out of their 1000-copies allocated for each of them. What a wimp, especially the President of the Malaysian Bookseller Association who later left this message to the hypermarkets in its childish retort, "Stick to your discounts on milk powder, rice and other food products; stay off bestsellers!"

A writer wrote that Asda was selling the book for RM35 (£5) (and make a loss of £3?!!). Even though I have not come across such a ludicrous offer based on my frequent visit to the store, I must attest that the book was selling at approximately £8 (RM56) on average before the launch and £10 (RM70) at present after the launch. Taking royalties, transportation cost (if any) and booksellers' cut on commission etc into consideration, the present RM70 price tag is the same as anywhere in the UK right now.

So, if you're planning to get the book, I would say that the ones sold in the two hypermarkets are still the cheapest.

I have a bad news to the booksellers though. If they are hoping that the two hypermarkets could get rid of the 2000 copies as soon as possible, then they will be left with a greater disappointment. Ebay and Amazon.com have unlimited copies for sale now. All Malaysians need is an online account for either site to get the book, not an extra RM40.