ChoiceStream

The retailer has joined Wal-Mart and Amazon in the online book price wars, disclosing it is slashing the prices of seven highly anticipated hardcover books available for pre-order on its Web site, matching the $8.99 price that Walmart announced. Wal-Mart promptly responded lowering its price to $8.98. The publishing industry is watching warily to see if the price war will have lasting impact on book pricing and the contracts that publishers sign with authors. What is still unclear is whether this is a short-term promotion on Walmart’s part, or whether Walmart.com intends to use cheap books to challenge Amazon as the Web’s leading retailer.Read the full article