Retailers consist of small and large for-profit businesses that sell products directly to consumers. To realize a profit, retailers search for products that coincide with their business objectives and find suppliers with the most competitive pricing. Generally, a retailer can buy small quantities of an item from a distributor or a wholesaler.
Fire and Fury sells half a million copies. Combined sales of hardcover, e-book and audio versions of Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury now top 500,000. Associated Press January 18, 2018 11:41am A company that tracks retail book sales says Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury sold more than 190,000 hardcover copies last week.
In almost all instances, unit sales for print books are still ahead of e-book sales, but the gap is starting to narrow. The Fifty Shades combined e-book numbers are more than 15 million, about half of the print figures. The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks sold more than one million in mass market and 569,544 in digital. However, in e-books, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn outsold the print edition; more than 1 million copies to 900,000 print. At this point, Gone Girl is more the exception than the rule.