What bookshops could learn from the Internet

One of Ireland’s best known bookshops Hughes & Hughes went into receivership recently citing high rents and the competition from online competitors. Fair enough, the recession and lower travel numbers through their airport outlets would definitely effect sales – and there’s a certain unforeseen element to that, but online book buying has been around for ages.

I buy a good chunk of books, around 30-40 a year usually in batches of ten or so – almost exclusively online with the reason being that online websites do the hard work for me, offers me suggestions and make it easier to buy in bulk and to buy impulsively.

Here are three ideas that traditional bookshops could learn from the Internet:

1. Stop Trying To Compete With Online

Right now bookshops are trying to play catchup with the likes of Amazon & BookDespository by mimicking their features but without the distribution, value or service. I checked out the online store of Ireland’s best known bookshop and most books are shipping in 3-5 days. OK, it’s not 24hrs or same day like the big online stores but they really hamper themselves with delivery charges of €4 as well as the uncertainty if the book is even in stock. As a consumer there’s three great excuses not to buy online a) Slow delivery, b) Might not be in stock; c) Delivery cost was 50% of the book value.

Applying an offline model to an online store is a poor idea if you can’t be competitive or offer some method of differentiation. This creates a poor perception of the offline bookshop if the online store price can be easily compared to online only stores.

2. Connect Online & Offline Stores

The functions of an online store should not be significantly different to that of a bricks & mortar store, especially in terms of distribution and promotion. A bricks and mortar store merchandises it’s shop window, shelves and point of sale, it’s no different from how a website merchandises it’s homepage, pages and shopping cart. Right now offline stores treat their online presence like a totally separate channel. Ideally both stores should at least compliment each other and at best connect with each other. Here’s what would be great, you’re browsing for a book online, and the website shows that you can buy it and then collect it at your nearest store, or at least tell you if it’s in stock at a store. Failing that, how about free shipping within 24hrs!

There’s so much more that can be done to connect the same consumer to either the online or offline store, utilising an online profile to keep you up to date to book suggestions, online specials, new products and in store offers.

3. In Store Book Finder

The great thing about buying books online is that you can simply input an author, book title or ISBN. Book shops already have an inventory system, but this is seriously hamstrung. Recently I dropped into book shop in Dublin looking for anything by Sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, I couldn’t find anything so dropped over to the information desk where the nice lady tapped in the author details into her terminal and pointed me over to the relevant sections. Hold on a minute, she probably not only got the shelf number, but also the stock number, titles and other related goodies. That’s the kind of thing that should be made accessible to all customers making it easier to find books they want, and books they didn’t know they wanted.

These are three ideas which could form the basis of developing a greater connection between a bookshop and their online store; which would give them a competitive edge over online only competitors. We know it’s cheaper to buy online. If a bookshop used their advantage of having a physical store by embracing online interaction, Not only do I think it would be hugely successful, it could be the decision that saves their business.

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