Amazon's "Price Check" sucker-punches stores within their own walls

Want to make sure you're not paying more than you need for a book?

In the old days, in Singapore and other traditional Chinese shopping heavens, all the stores that sold a certain item (such as gold) were lined up alongside each other, in a quaint custom that benefited the price-comparing customer.  This, presumably, worked because the level of service and the goods offered were the same in every shop.

That, most surely, does not apply to bookstores, where a devoted customer is happy to pay a little extra because of the range available, and the wise and interested assistance from the staff.

Now, Amazon has a plan to sabotage that happy situation.  According to Rachelle Dragani on E-Commerce Times, Amazon has a plan to pluck customers right out of retail stores using Price Check.

It's an app on a smartphone that allows users to scan a book in an actual bricks and mortar store -- maybe the neighborhood store where the staff might be friends -- and compare the price on amazon.com to that on the sticker in front of your eyes.  For a limited time, if you buy the book from Amazon instead, they will give you a discount.