Following the recent news that Borders has filed for bankruptcy in the US and the UK’s own Waterstones is struggling too, I believe that physical bookstores need to acknowledge that Amazon exists not pretend it isn’t there.

I’d be impressed if a bookstore like Borders or Waterstone’s introduced a partnership with Amazon where they offered a free in-store book ordering service through a special co-branded website powered by Amazon.

Customers could even place the order themselves (again for free) via in-store PC terminals rather than ask a member of staff to do it for them.

If any orders were placed through it Amazon would then give the store a referral fee. This way, the customer has a choice of either paying slightly more to pick up and walk out of the shop that day, or pay less but have to wait for it to be delivered.