United We Stand
independent bookstores, which have been slowly losing ground to retail store chains and online sellers like Amazon.com, will soon be able to fight back. The American Booksellers Association plans to launch a collective Web site to help the stores recapture their lost business.
There is no question that such a move is needed. The independents have seen their market share drop from 32% six or seven years ago to 17% today. And pressure from the big players has forced a third of the independents to go out of business, says Michael Hoynes, vice president of marketing for the ABA.
And yet the remaining stores – 11,540 in all – still pull in an average total of 800,000 consumers per week. Haynes think they can reclaim a 25% marketshare with concerted action.
Scheduled for launch this summer, the Web site (www.booksense.com) will enable the independents to establish individual Web sites using their own names. These will be linked to a centralized database maintained by a new nonprofit entity established by the ABA called Book Sense, Inc.
“The book stores will have their own Web sites but the back end will be Booksense.com,” says Hoynes. “We’ll house the data.”
The Tarrytown, NY-based ABA is also working with about 20 independent bookstores to develop a database marketing program; several book stores have agreed to share data for a collective database, according to Hoynes. Members will eventually be able to avail themselves of e-mail and banner advertising services.
Haynes expects that up to 250 independent bookstores will participate in Web site and an accompanying market program at first, and that 500 will sign on by the end of the first year.
“We’re looking at opportunities with several Web sites to do advertising and promotions and some product cross-selling to offer Booksense.com as content to drive traffic to other Web sites,” he says.
The ABA will provide much of the promotional content for the individual sites, including one million book titles available for order online, but each bookstore can also tailor its site with its own information and book selections.
“To the consumer it will be completely transparent; it will be like searching through one million titles on JoesBooks.com,” Hoynes says.
Banner advertising from publishers will be included on Web sites and the ABA is lining up deals with various Web sites to provide online links to Booksense.com.
Three book wholesalers will be responsible for fulfilling orders and customers will have the option of picking up books at local stores. Customers will also be able to electronically download and receive titles to store on portable electronic books. Such devices are already being introduced to the market as Rocket Books.
Initially the parent Web site will provide shoppers who type-in ZIP codes the location of the nearest participating bookstore, and also allow them to order books online. Consumers who phone 888-Booksense can already receive information about independent bookshop locations.
The program will be supported through fees. Local stores will receive payment for online sales minus 4% charged by Book Sense to process orders. The stores will also be charged about $200 per month to participate in Book Sense promotions, which includes distributing and redeeming gift certificates.
The Web site is part of a larger national branding promotion that includes TV spots and in-store promotions. The stores will retain their own names and identities but promote themselves as members of Book Sense.
Online purchases, which now constitute 4% to 6% of all book sales, are expected to hit 10 to 12% within five years, Haynes says.
