What Can You Learn from a Bookstore?

Suzanne DeGaetano, Mac’s Backs—Books on Coventry (Cleveland Heights, Ohio)

Richard Wilson, Borders Books (unable to attend)

Liz Murphy, The Learned Owl Book Shop (Hudson, Ohio)

Library and bookstore partnerships

• Hudson library expanded to a huge new facility; customers wondered if it would hurt the bookstore
• Liz’s response: “no, we’re partners, we both promote books”
• Bookstores like to be included in library’s activities and will talk up events where they are included
• Independent bookstores that are surviving have learned to partner with other organizations

What are you going to do to keep customers coming back?

• Rewards programs (maybe customers don’t pay fines for a week?)
• Friendly and knowledgeable service
• Competition not only in same area, but on the Internet
• All wear nametags, everyone smiles
• Greeting customers is essential; have to make people feel welcome when they walk in the door
• Do a lot of handselling—connecting people to books. One of the main ways they maintain relationships with customers

• Use “staff picks” on a big spinner display—people like to know what the staff is reading
• Community involvement is important
• Stuff bags with flyers
• Have their store’s name on everything, including hats, totes, etc
• Have a bestsellers list for independent booksellers (booksense.com); do libraries have bestsellers (best circulating) in their communities?
• Use a lot of signs: like for a coffee table art book, put up a sign that says “Having a party? Want to look intelligent? Put this on your coffee table.”
• Four-line rule: no sign should be more than 4 lines long

Marketing product

• New books need to be in a certain place
• Shelves need to be appealing; the more face out product the better
• Props on shelves for seasonal events help
• Have found that people don’t have time to come to events at stores, but need to have enough events that press releases get in local papers
• Think outside day-to-day library stuff for what can get in the paper; e.g., one store has a dog; have Halloween parades, pumpkin carving contest
• Want to create buzz in the community; get a book review show on local cable channel
• The more different demographics in your community you can get excited about your library the better
• Music and sounds in the environment can affect the mood of customers
• Signs are critical
• Authors that have last names beginning with the last letters of the alphabet are near the floor and don’t sell as well

# posted by lebachai @ 3:04 PM