Australian Small Business Minister Nick Sherry predicts bookshops will be extinct within five years

The comment came in the wake of the announcement of the takeover of the BookDepository.co.uk website by Amazon.co.uk, with which Australians spend some $250 million a year combined.  In the past, high shipping charges was one factor deterring people from spending money with them, now both sites offer free air shipping to customers in Australia and NZ (in Amazon's case on orders over £25).  The other deterrant - inadequate packing resulting in squishes, dents etc., doesn't seem to bother people too much (although bookstores here will send anything back that has the slightest imperfection).

So is Nick Sherry correct? Probably, unless bookshops in A/NZ start stocking books that people can't get from these sites, which include most locally published titles.  We suspect most bookshops will learn that the hard way, however.