Bookdealer: Italy's Independent Bookstores Unite on Single E-Commerce Platform

Bookdealer, the first e-commerce platform in Italy aggregating a large number of independent bookstores, has launched to counter Amazon's dominance. The platform allows users to search for specific stores, titles, or authors, virtually visit shops, receive recommendations from booksellers, see bestsellers, read reviews, and access store promotions. Its goal is to preserve the human contact central to independent bookstores, which Amazon cannot replace. Organizers emphasize that purchasing through Bookdealer supports independent stores by enabling home delivery and courier shipping, helping booksellers maintain relationships with regular customers, reach new ones, and become known outside their local areas or in underserved locations where readers previously had no choice but to buy from large online stores. The platform is intuitive, accessible, and fast, and is seen as a useful resource during the 'lockdown light' period, even though bookstores remain open in red zones. The initiative reflects a growing network among independent bookstores to compete collectively against Amazon's perceived unfair competition, a debate long covered by Artribune with contributions from booksellers themselves.