Indie Booksellers Play to Strengths During Hard Times

In mid-November, the American Booksellers Association began an extensive outreach program to member bookstores via e-mails and phone calls both to learn more about business conditions and to provide information and support during this challenging economic downturn.

As the initiative winds down, ABA Chief Program Officer Len Vlahos noted to Bookselling This Week that "my colleagues and I are extremely grateful to all the booksellers who took the time during a busy season to talk with us. It allowed us to share their experiences and insights with their colleagues across the country for the benefit of all."

Despite the glum economic news, the outreach initiative revealed that indie booksellers had not panicked regarding the holiday season, nor were their heads in the sand. Nationwide, booksellers were making adjustments in inventory levels, payroll costs, and product mix, all with the primary goal of maintaining control of cash flow. With this in mind, many booksellers had reviewed the "Bookselling in Tough Times" resources on BookWeb.org and had implemented many of the suggestions in BTW's nine-part series.

Poised on the cusp of the Black Friday weekend, a few key themes emerged from the many phone calls:

Booksellers were working to ensure that their stores offered customers a haven from bleak newscasts and scary stock market updates. In this, they were very much in agreement with the insight of Association of Booksellers for Children Executive Director Kristen McLean, who noted in BTW and on the ABC blog, that "what your customers want -- what they crave, actually -- is a little relief from the bleak saturation of the 24-hour news cycle. They want comfort. They want nurturing. They want advice they can trust. They want ideas to make it better. They want a warm retreat in a dark, cold world." Whether it's moving possibly unsettling nonfiction titles about current events or the economy from the store's front tables or greeting shoppers with aromatic hot cider, booksellers were working to make sure that their stores' customer-experience offered a welcome contrast from a turbulent world.

Customers were recognizing -- and appreciating -- indie booksellers' local roots and authentic connections with their communities. Many booksellers reported consumers' extremely favorable reaction to the IndieBound message, celebrating both independence and the unique perspective and voices of indie booksellers. Whether it was the use of the customizable "Here's What You Just Did" fliers (articulating just how a purchase was strengthening the community) or coordinated marketing/promotional efforts with other local indie retailers, booksellers reported very positive results when they clearly articulated their authentic local connection to the communities. As Chuck Robinson, co-owner of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington, recently noted on the store's blog: "What we believe [we] deliver is a contribution to the quality of life in the community that remote, mail-order businesses cannot and will not provide.... Many folks understand the difference between price (what one pays for an item) and true cost (what one gets and/or sacrifices for it). Many believe that what we, and other independent businesses, contribute to the life of the community makes the cost of buying from us lower than buying from Amazon or WalMart....We hope you see the value of what we, and other independent businesses, contribute to the quality of life in our community. We truly appreciate your business and will continue to strive to provide great value."

Also, see what Carla Cohen, co-owner of Politics and Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Washington, D.C., has to say about "embedding" your bookstore in your community.

The unique gift appeal of books was a key marketing message. Across the board, booksellers echoed the sentiments of Harvard Book Store's Carole Horne, who noted that "Books are a great value when people are watching their spending, whether you consider their lasting value compared to more impermanent purchases, the cost-per-hour of pleasure, or simply the psychological comfort books can give. For people looking for a special gift, a high-priced book can seem as luxurious as other things that are more expensive." Booksellers were employing the special IndieBound holiday marketing materials -- all stressing the lasting, and life-changing, value of books -- in posters, book marks, and online communications. And many reported that children's books remained an especially resilient category in tough times, perhaps, a clear sales corollary to this marketing message.

Here are examples of how booksellers have been using some of the holiday marketing materials. We'd love to see what you are doing. Please, e-mail us and let us know. And here's a link to Random House's promotional campaign to help spur both in-store and online book sales, including marketing tools for booksellers. --Dan Cullen