Some of Our Sources
- Engadget
- Mashable
- Team Treehouse
- Just Creative
- Spoon Graphics
- TutsPlus - Design
- Fuel Your Creativity
- Inspiredology
- Reencoded
- CSS Globe
Help Webnuz
Referal links:
June 16, 2020 06:53 pm
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/1pwMcecbkN8/bookstores-are-struggling-is-a-new-e-commerce-site-the-answer
Bookstores Are Struggling. Is a New E-Commerce Site the Answer?
The rapid rise of Bookshop.org during the shutdown has been hailed as a boon for independent stores. But some booksellers worry it could become another competitor for online business. From a report: In January, when Andy Hunter, the publisher of a small press, started an online bookstore that he pitched as the indie alternative to Amazon, many in the book business had their doubts. Earlier efforts to create a portal for independent booksellers had done little to chip away at Amazon's market share, and even retailers like Barnes & Noble have struggled to compete. Mr. Hunter felt there was an unexploited opportunity. Seizing even a fraction of Amazon's sales would be a windfall for independent stores, which would receive a cut of the site's profits. Mr. Hunter told investors that within two years, his site, Bookshop, could reach $30 million in annual sales, a projection that struck some as wildly optimistic. Then, in March, the coronavirus pandemic forced bookstores across the United States to shut their doors. Hundreds of bookstore owners, many of whom couldn't enter their stores to fulfill online or phone orders, joined the new site. Now Bookshop is on track to exceed $40 million in sales this year, blowing past the sum that Mr. Hunter initially hoped to reach by 2022. The site sold some $4.5 million of books in May, and more than $7 million in the first two weeks of June. More than 750 bookstores have joined, and Bookshop has generated more than $3.6 million for stores. The company is preparing to expand its operations to Britain later this year, where it plans to partner with the book wholesaler Gardners. "There were a number of skeptics about whether this would work," said Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics & Prose in Washington. "Bookshop has certainly worked better than anybody anticipated, because nobody anticipated a pandemic." Some wonder whether Bookshop will remain a viable player in the online retail ecosystem as stores begin to reopen, and customers who turned to the site during the shutdown revert to in-store and curbside shopping. Meanwhile, Amazon, which accounts for some 70 percent of online book sales, has strengthened its position as the world's largest online retailer. The company reported $75.5 billion in sales during its most recent fiscal quarter, a 26 percent increase from the year-ago quarter.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/1pwMcecbkN8/bookstores-are-struggling-is-a-new-e-commerce-site-the-answer
Share this article:
Tweet
View Full Article
Slashdot
Slashdot was originally created in September of 1997 by Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda. Today it is owned by Geeknet, Inc..More About this Source Visit Slashdot