Costco's Book Blunder & Capitalism's Autocorrect

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

The wonderful thing about capitalism is that it autocorrects anti-capitalist stupidity.  Costco recently made a huge blunder when they made what they allege to have been a "business decision" to remove Dinesh D'Souza's book, "America- Imagine a world without her" from its shelves.

www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/07/report-costco-orders-removal-of-all-copies-of-dsouzas-book-america/

They quickly learned a business lesson and made a higher quality business decision shortly after:

newsbusters.org/blogs/pj-gladnick/2014/07/08/costco-karma-dinesh-dsouzas-america-book-soars-amazon-1-shortly-after-b

One thing I love about capitalism is that it has a way of autocorrecting its detractors.

[Opti]

I don't think has anything to do with pro-capitalism and anti-capitalism.

Its yet another business decision by a big retailer that was reversed.

Ho-hum.

In other news, Crumbs the chain of cupcake bakery stores has folded.

Apparently this heralds the death of the cupcake craze.

Or perhaps, the owners could have planned better after two years

of losses.

Decisions not yet reversed - Vitamin water reformulation

                                       - McDonald's and whole milk

[happyhoix]

I am absolutely 100% certain Paul will be able to find the anti-American liberal democrat behind the demise of the poor cupcake company.

[Opti]

Jul 10, 2014 10:34:35 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

I am absolutely 100% certain Paul will be able to find the anti-American liberal democrat behind the demise of the poor cupcake company.

I think they were dropped from Nasdaq a week before they shut everything down.

Felt sorry for the workers as apparently most had no idea.

[Opti]

Perhaps Paul or someone can bid on the last cupcake from Crumbs

and reward an Ebay capitalist.

Current bid is $255.00

www.ebay.com/itm/THE-LAST-CUPCAKE-FROM-CRUMBS-BAKE-SHOP-/231278124258

[happyhoix]

Jul 10, 2014 10:37:35 GMT -5 Opti said:

Jul 10, 2014 10:34:35 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

I am absolutely 100% certain Paul will be able to find the anti-American liberal democrat behind the demise of the poor cupcake company.

I think they were dropped from Nasdaq a week before they shut everything down.

Felt sorry for the workers as apparently most had no idea.

I blame the current trend of using WAAAAY too much icing.

Used to be a cupcake had a nice little coating of frosting, for some reason modern cupcake stores decided to include more frosting than cake and then charge you ten bucks for it.

So you get diabetes and broke at the same time - unsustainable business model.

Due to liberal excess, no doubt.

[Opti]

Due to liberal excess, no doubt.

Nah, probably conservative excess and a lack of attention from Bloomberg.

Made the mistake of going after large sodas. Might have had some traction

on excess icing.

[dondub]

 Costco did what it always does on books that don't move a certain product number within a specific amount of time...they removed it. When the book starting moving up the charts they reversed course as they are in the business of selling saleable goods. It's really that simple. Even they are willing to msell the books of convict3ed criminals like D'Souza.

 I knew Paul would start a thread on this and put some spin down.

[djAdvocate]

Costco is awesome. 

[EVT1]

www.snopes.com/politics/business/dsouza.asp

     Costco's response to inquiries about the issue has been to assert that their motivation for pulling D’Souza’s book from their shelves was based on sales rather than politics:
     "Costco is not influenced by political considerations in selecting product for sale in our warehouses or on Costco.com. This includes our selection of books. Our book buyers are solely interested in book sales, and do not favor any political persuasion over another. Recently, after deciding to sell the book "America: Imagine the World Without Her", beginning on June 1, a decision was made to pull the book from sale on July 1. This decision was based solely on the number of copies sold during that month, and had nothing to do with the content of the book.

      Costco is not a book store. Our book shelf space is very limited. We exercise discipline in the best utilization of that limited space based solely on what our members are buying. We can't carry every title that our members are interested in reading. We are constantly monitoring book sales, and make decisions to pull books off the shelves frequently based on sales volume to make room for other titles. Politics or controversy over content do not influence our decisions. "

By the end of the day on 8 July 2014, Costco began adding a paragraph to their standard customer response indicating that they had reversed their position and would be re-stocking D'Souza's America: Imagine a World Without Her:
    

     "After we made the return, a documentary was released about the book. Since then there has been heightened interest by our membership base and brisk sales at locations still in stock. Therefore, we have made the decision to reorder the book."
 
 

So it appears all decisions made were based on Capitalism.  And once again no story.

Funny- I wonder why they stocked the book in the first place if it was a political thing.  Damn conspiracy around every corner these days.

[djAdvocate]

Jul 11, 2014 4:02:49 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

www.snopes.com/politics/business/dsouza.asp

     Costco's response to inquiries about the issue has been to assert that their motivation for pulling D’Souza’s book from their shelves was based on sales rather than politics:
     "Costco is not influenced by political considerations in selecting product for sale in our warehouses or on Costco.com. This includes our selection of books. Our book buyers are solely interested in book sales, and do not favor any political persuasion over another. Recently, after deciding to sell the book "America: Imagine the World Without Her", beginning on June 1, a decision was made to pull the book from sale on July 1. This decision was based solely on the number of copies sold during that month, and had nothing to do with the content of the book.

      Costco is not a book store. Our book shelf space is very limited. We exercise discipline in the best utilization of that limited space based solely on what our members are buying. We can't carry every title that our members are interested in reading. We are constantly monitoring book sales, and make decisions to pull books off the shelves frequently based on sales volume to make room for other titles. Politics or controversy over content do not influence our decisions. "

By the end of the day on 8 July 2014, Costco began adding a paragraph to their standard customer response indicating that they had reversed their position and would be re-stocking D'Souza's America: Imagine a World Without Her:
    

     "After we made the return, a documentary was released about the book. Since then there has been heightened interest by our membership base and brisk sales at locations still in stock. Therefore, we have made the decision to reorder the book."
 
 

So it appears all decisions made were based on Capitalism.  And once again no story.

Funny- I wonder why they stocked the book in the first place if it was a political thing.  Damn conspiracy around every corner these days.

sounds like capitalism is working just fine.  the only injury is to D'Souza's ego.

[EVT1]

That and a few hundred irate commenters on the various websites threatening to boycott Costco/cut up their memberships  because they are a left-wing Socialist organization   ***Actually called that

Interesting points:

Book was sold for an entire month- as Rush calls it, censorship.

Free market dictates they can sell whatever they want so why all the false outrage?  Don't these folks know when they are being played by these pundits and the author?

Dr. Ben Carson- conservative darling is on the board of directors- AND his book is for sale there- another conspiracy BTW

So my advice to the hardcore right- don't shop there- their employees are treated well and that is going to make you uncomfortable- especially if the clerk is making more that you

[Opti]

Jul 11, 2014 13:11:22 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

That and a few hundred irate commenters on the various websites threatening to boycott Costco/cut up their memberships  because they are a left-wing Socialist organization   ***Actually called that

Interesting points:

Book was sold for an entire month- as Rush calls it, censorship.

Free market dictates they can sell whatever they want so why all the false outrage?  Don't these folks know when they are being played by these pundits and the author?

NO, or they like it.

Personality-wise it seems some people must get off on being angry all the time.

I don't get it, but I guess since they can't find peace and happiness they are willing

to settle for being mad and angry at other people?

Dr. Ben Carson- conservative darling is on the board of directors- AND his book is for sale there- another conspiracy BTW

So my advice to the hardcore right- don't shop there- their employees are treated well and that is going to make you uncomfortable- especially if the clerk is making more that you

[Angel!]

Jul 10, 2014 10:50:51 GMT -5 dondub said:

 Costco did what it always does on books that don't move a certain product number within a specific amount of time...they removed it. When the book starting moving up the charts they reversed course as they are in the business of selling saleable goods. It's really that simple.

Seriously, I fail to see how this is even a story.  A book that is ranked #43 in sales & only sold 3600 copies in a month when costco has more than 600 locations is ordered to removed from the store.   Seems like a pretty smart move to me, why waste the merchandise space on something that isn't selling & I am guessing rarely do book sales shoot up after the first month of release, it is usually probably downhill from there. 

With a little research they probably should have realized a movie was coming out & sales would increase, but they didn't at the time.  When they did realize this & saw the trend shift, they withdrew the order to remove the book.

To make this out to be anything more than that is just conspiratorial & silly

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

OK, I'm sensing that the operating theory is that the numbers tell the story? Why wasn't Hillary Clinton's book ever pulled from Costco's shelves? You DO realize it was a crushing disappointment in sales, right?

Publishing executives 'on notice' after Hillary Clinton's $14million memoir sells just 161,000 copies in first three weeks

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2686300/Publishing-executives-notice-Hillary-Clintons-14M-memoir-sells-just-161k-copies.html#ixzz37BpIGht4

So, all you "business decision" people now have a question to answer.

[Sum Dum Gai]

So, all you "business decision" people now have a question to answer.

Let's see...

Publishing executives 'on notice' after Hillary Clinton's $14million memoir sells just 161,000 copies in first three weeks

A book that is ranked #43 in sales & only sold 3600 copies in a month when costco has more than 600 locations is ordered to removed from the store.

161,000 copies in three weeks is bigger than 3600 copies in a month.
I'd drop the latter and stock the former.
Seems pretty straightforward.

I don't see what part of the math here is all that hard.

[Angel!]

Costco revealed that D'Souza's book had been sold 3,753 times in its stores, "or approximately 15 books per Costco location." To the Post, Galanti said that Clinton's had sold somewhere north of 17,000 in the last three weeks of June -- about five times as much.

This is what costco said.  Do you know something different?

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/07/09/hard-choices-sales-continue-to-slide-but-apparently-not-to-dinesh-dsouza-levels/

[djAdvocate]

Jul 11, 2014 14:37:14 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

So, all you "business decision" people now have a question to answer.

Let's see...

Publishing executives 'on notice' after Hillary Clinton's $14million memoir sells just 161,000 copies in first three weeks

A book that is ranked #43 in sales & only sold 3600 copies in a month when costco has more than 600 locations is ordered to removed from the store.

161,000 copies in three weeks is bigger than 3600 copies in a month.
I'd drop the latter and stock the former.
Seems pretty straightforward.

I don't see what part of the math here is all that hard.

the part that doesn't lend itself to hysterical right wing ranting?

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jul 11, 2014 14:37:14 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

So, all you "business decision" people now have a question to answer.

Let's see...

Publishing executives 'on notice' after Hillary Clinton's $14million memoir sells just 161,000 copies in first three weeks

A book that is ranked #43 in sales & only sold 3600 copies in a month when costco has more than 600 locations is ordered to removed from the store.

161,000 copies in three weeks is bigger than 3600 copies in a month.
I'd drop the latter and stock the former.
Seems pretty straightforward.

I don't see what part of the math here is all that hard.

Um, that 161,000 is total.  World-wide.  Every place that sells a book- brick and mortar or online.

[Opti]

Actually...

"By normal nonfiction standards, “Hard Choices” has sold extremely well. But Mrs. Clinton’s multimillion-dollar advance and status as a probable 2016 Democratic presidential candidate have put added pressure on the publisher, Simon & Schuster.

Current sales figures of 177,234 copies not including e-books, according to Nielsen BookScan, mean Simon & Schuster is unlikely to recoup Mrs. Clinton’s advance and could fall far short of the one million copies shipped to bookstores, industry executives said."

www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/business/a-provocateurs-book-on-hillary-clinton-overtakes-her-memoir-in-sales.html?_r=0

But truthfully we need to compare like to like.

The book in the OP averaged a sale of 6 books per Costco store in one month.

What is the sales volume of Clinton's book at Costco now and in the past?

Worldwide numbers aren't going to tell us that.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

www.tpnn.com/2014/07/09/dsouzas-america-shoots-to-1-on-amazon-following-costco-ban/

Dinesh D’Souza’s book, “America: Imagine a World Without Her,” vaulted to #1 on Amazon.com’s bestseller list, shortly after retail behemoth Costco yanked the pro-American book that is a companion to the movie of the same name currently in theaters.

And the other problem with your math is the static nature of your calculation. One book's sales are on the rise- the other book's sales...aren't:

Sales of Clinton's 'Hard Choices' drop by over 40% in second week
Posted by
CNN's Dan Merica
Washington (CNN) – Hillary Clinton's new memoir "Hard Choices" experienced a 43% drop in sales in its second week on bookshelves, according to numbers from Nielsen BookScan.

After 85,721 copies of "Hard Choices" were purchased in the book's first week, 48,227 copies of the memoir sold in the second week, according to Nielsen numbers, which make up roughly 85% of all retail book sales and were provided to CNN by a publishing source.

[Opti]

Not finding book sales, but apparently Hillary has done some book

signings at a few Costcos.

still4hill.com/2014/06/14/hillary-clintons-book-tour-watch-costco-in-arlington-you-never-know-who-you-might-bump-into/

"
The Huffington Post | By Igor Bobic


Posted: 06/14/2014



Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor bumped into Hillary Clinton at a Costco in Arlington, Virginia on Saturday.

The former secretary of state was holding court at the sprawling Washington-area retailer with hundreds of supporters, signing copies of her new book, Hard Choices. Sotomayor, a D.C. resident, told reporters that she was “just shopping” when she happened to stumble upon the event."

Probably more than 6 books then.

The conservative mud slinging book timed to ride Hillary's books coat-tails

as conservatives know is picking up steam and deflating Hillary's book's momentum.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jul 11, 2014 4:02:49 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

www.snopes.com/politics/business/dsouza.asp

     Costco's response to inquiries about the issue has been to assert that their motivation for pulling D’Souza’s book from their shelves was based on sales rather than politics.

Anybody who believes this, raise your hand.

As the articles clearly point out, sales of Hillary Clinton's book have been even more in the tank--for longer--and Costco didn't see fit to axe that "based on sales rather than politics".

This is the political right's version of boycotting Chik Fil-A. Only the right is doing it because Costco is actually censoring books, not because the Costco CEO dared speak out in defense of marriage.

Incidentally, the 161,000 copies in three weeks for Ms. Clinton's book is across all book publishers, not just Costco (as the articles also clearly indicate).

Does anybody here actually read these things? The answers are all right there.

[Opti]

And the other problem with your math is the static nature of your calculation. One book's sales are on the rise- the other book's sales...aren't:

With 6 a month per big volume store, it needs to go up.

Costco knows their numbers. If you were really a capitalist and trusted the

system, you'd trust they'd drop her book when her book sales dropped into

the sales volume his book had there.

[Opti]

Jul 11, 2014 18:57:14 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Jul 11, 2014 4:02:49 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

www.snopes.com/politics/business/dsouza.asp

     Costco's response to inquiries about the issue has been to assert that their motivation for pulling D’Souza’s book from their shelves was based on sales rather than politics.

Anybody who believes this, raise your hand.

As the articles point out, sales of Hillary Clinton's book have been even more in the tank--for longer--and Costco didn't see fit to axe that "based on sales rather than politics".

This is the political right's version of boycotting Chik Fil-A. Only the right is doing it because Costco is actually censoring books, not because the Costco CEO dared speak out in defense of marriage.

Me.

Are you math challenged too, Virgil?

Dinesh's book averaged 6 sales in a month over 600 Costco stores!

Do you personally know how many sales Clinton's book is doing over

those same Costco stores?

[Opti]

Incidentally, the 161,000 copies in three weeks for Ms. Clinton's book is across all book publishers, not just Costco (as the articles also clearly indicate).

Does anybody here actually read these things? The answers are all right there.

Really...

There is one publisher.

There are an unknown amount of stores the publisher has put into

an unknown number of books. Not all stores will carry the book,

just the ones that have made deals with the publisher.

So enlighten me, what is the exact number of the 177,000+ copies

sold to date that were sold at Costco?

I'll wait, cuz the answer is *THERE*.

[Virgil Showlion]

I found a better article by the WaPo.

It explains that if you use the three week average of the Clinton book sales rather than the most recent week of sales, it sold roughly 5x as much as D'Souza's book. If you look at the last week only, D'Souza's book outsold Clinton's by a factor of roughly 6:5, which is close to what the other articles cited.

The article indicates that Costco makes book-cutting decisions on a weekly basis, but it's plausible that they were working with old data that hadn't yet captured the magnitude of "Hard Choices"'s plummet.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jul 11, 2014 19:03:13 GMT -5 Opti said:

Jul 11, 2014 18:57:14 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Anybody who believes this, raise your hand.

As the articles point out, sales of Hillary Clinton's book have been even more in the tank--for longer--and Costco didn't see fit to axe that "based on sales rather than politics".

This is the political right's version of boycotting Chik Fil-A. Only the right is doing it because Costco is actually censoring books, not because the Costco CEO dared speak out in defense of marriage.

Me.

Are you math challenged too, Virgil?

Dinesh's book averaged 6 sales in a month over 600 Costco stores!

Do you personally know how many sales Clinton's book is doing over

those same Costco stores?

The total numbers are 15 copies per Costco store for D'Souza's book.

And as the WaPo article indicates, although Ms. Clinton's book handily outsold D'Souza's overall, the sales were/are so front-loaded that D'Souza's book edged out Clinton's during the past week (or rather, the last week of June).

It takes a bit of calculation since the numbers for Ms. Clinton's book are reported in aggregate.

[Opti]

If you look at the last week only, D'Souza's book outsold Clinton's by a factor of roughly 6:5, which is close to what the other articles cited.

I don't see that stat in the article from your URL.

Its not a political plot, really. They gave Dinesh's book 3 to 4 weeks before they

pulled it initially. Clinton's books may be pulled in the near future because of slow

sales. Meh.

[Opti]

The total numbers are 15 copies per Costco store for D'Souza's book.

According to them, now. Obviously that means they aren't in all 600 stores

if you do the math with the 3700+.