BookSense.com Co-Op a Win-Win for Booksellers and Publishers

With one year in the books, so to speak, recently released BookSense.com Co-op Reimbursement Program figures indicate that the program has done well to help publishers increase book sales, while giving booksellers access to co-op to help offset the cost of their BookSense.com Web sites. "We're delighted at the early success of this program," BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos told BTW.

According to BookSense.com figures, from July 2003 through November 2003, 122 bookstores participated in the program, and 45 stores filed a co-op claim. The average percent of BookSense.com fees offset by co-op was approximately 54 percent. Furthermore, the total average co-op dollars claimed per store was a remarkable $477, with the lowest amount claimed being $50 and the highest $1,325.

BookSense.com also gathered figures from Algonquin Books' co-op promotion, which ran from September 15 through November 15. For the promotion, BookSense.com Co-op Reimbursement Program participants took advantage of a special offer from Algonquin. Booksellers who featured a special theme, "Best Books for Booklovers in Training," on their Web sites for any four consecutive weeks, based around titles culled from Esme Raji Codell's new book, How to Get Your Child to Love Reading, and displayed the new book in their stores were eligible to receive newsletter co-op from Algonquin.

The results of the study were telling: According to the Book Sense Bestseller List reports, the 25 participating stores sold 79 units. However, since not all stores reported to the BSBL each week, a phone survey showed that the participants sold a total of 235 units during the period. Furthermore, a comparable 25 non-participating stores, who reported to the BSBL at least 8 out of the 10 weeks, sold 27 units (a phone survey was not conducted for these stores). All BookSense.com stores that reported to the BSBL sold 258 units.

"Just looking at the stores that reported to the [BSBL], the stores participating in the BookSense.com Co-op Reimbursement Program outsold non-participating stores by a factor of three to one," Vlahos noted. "I think it's clear that, not only does the co-op program help booksellers pay for their BookSense.com Web sites, the co-op program clearly increases the sales of featured books." --David Grogan