You don't need to be a wizard to know why Amazon.com
Yes, Time Warner
Electronic Arts
Scholastic
The same thing can be said about Amazon, but as a merchant, it'll be there to cash in on the next big franchise, no matter the publisher. The only difference is that with every passing Harry Potter book, Amazon has become more and more ubiquitous.
As of a few hours ago, Amazon has received 1.3 million pre-orders for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The company guarantees release-date delivery to anyone who orders by noon tomorrow, so expect that number -- updated hourly on its Muggle Counter -- to keep inching higher.
Scholastic is printing 12 million books in its first run, topping the 10.8 million it put out for the sixth book two years ago. Amazon will be good for at least 11% of those books.
Globally, Amazon has received more than 2.1 million pre-orders. Compare that to the 1.5 million it clocked in with in 2005, and you have a potion so potent, it would even impress the dour Severus Snape.
Don't expect to see that Potter Power directly fuel Amazon's second-quarter report next week. Pre-orders aren't booked as sales until they ship out. However, a lot of shoppers who've come to Amazon to pre-purchase the book in recent months have probably been stuffing their virtual shopping carts with items that did ship in April, May, or June.
Winning over shoppers, one muggle at a time
Amazon is certainly doing its part to make sure that buyers make the site the hub of all things Harry. Offering guaranteed Saturday delivery will give Potterphiles one less reason to deal with the crowds at Barnes & Noble
The e-tailer also peppered its sale with a contest to find the Harry-est Town in America. The city with the highest rate of pre-orders per capita -- Falls Church, Va., as it turned out -- received a $5,000 charitable donation to a nonprofit group serving the town's residents.
The last carrot in Amazon's arsenal is a brilliant one. It's giving every Deathly Hallows buyer a $5 gift certificate. The catch? It must be spent in August on orders of $20 or more. In other words, at least 1.3 million domestic buyers will have a good reason to come back to Amazon.com in the traditionally sleepy month of August.
Can Amazon.com turn a profit on the book? Free shipping, atop the already marked-down price of $17.99, won't make it easy. However, a look at the bigger picture shows Amazon gaining far more than just a flurry of margin-munching sales.
Amazon as the purer Potter play
Yes, Time Warner has two more films to put out. This franchise will serve the studio well, not only over the next few years, but possibly even longer, as DVD sales and broadcasting rights keep trickling in.
However, Amazon has used each of the seven books to reach a wider audience. The same can't be said for Time Warner, where subsequent films have failed to top the domestic take of the 2001 original.
Amazon is proven and profitable now. Like Harry in his seven years of wizardry school, the company has learned plenty along the way. Naturally, all bets are off on this comparison should J.K. Rowling kill off her series' hero in the final book, as many predict. But Amazon and Potter both seem to have the magic touch right now. They each also carry a scar to remind them of times past, when things didn't go so well.
Amazon, Electronic Arts, and Time Warner have been recommended to Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter subscribers. Mere muggles like you and me can check out the newsletter for free with a 30-day trial subscription offer.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has barely skimmed the Potter books, though his wife is caught up and fearing the worst this weekend. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.