In the previous post, we’ve mentioned a few strategies for bookstore owners to thrive in the digital age of e-books. We continue this post with a few more tips:
Offer your customers titles they are unable to find elsewhere. Some of your customers are likely to be fans of rare or out-of-print books that are not readily available online. Many out-of-print book enthusiasts also want to purchase printed rather than digital versions of these hard-to-locate works. Offer to search for these books for them and give these customers the option of having you order these rare books for them. Set a fee per book on top of the ordering costs, and many of your customers will be happy to pay you for this specialty service.
Include eBooks as part of your inventory. It may seem counterintuitive, but a selection of digital books can enhance rather than hinder your business. Partnering with a digital bookseller will allow you to keep a percentage of the price of each book downloaded from your store. Keeping your eBook offerings to a limited number of titles will still encourage your customers to browse further to find additional printed books that interest them. Some successful bookstore owners include the digital downloads but do not promote them quite as much as they do their print selections. As a general rule, they still see good sales of both on a relatively consistent basis.
The main key to making a small bookstore profitable is to create experiences and an atmosphere that your customers cannot get when they are online and browsing for eBooks. In a brick-and-mortar bookstore, people are able to meet and talk face-to-face, discuss books they like and make recommendations to other reading enthusiasts.
They are also able to connect more with their local community. Your role as an independent book-seller is to take some of the anonymity and solitude out of digital book buying and downloading. These tips will help take your business in the right direction as a successful bookstore where customers can still hold a printed book in their hands.
Essential Surviving Tips For Small Book Stores – Part 2