Pick & Mix

I've had an idea.  No, bear with me.  It is a good one.

Let me give you the background.  I ventured into Windsor town centre the other day in search of a copy of the new Mr Gum book, Mr Gum & The Power Crystals.  Everyone in our house, and I mean everyone including Uma the cat, is excited about the new Mr Gum book.  We love Mr Gum.

I knew it was out this week so went straight to the A-Z shelves where I could find every Mr Gum title except for the new one.  So I checked out the 3 for 2 table and there was no sign of it there.  Oh dear.  Perhaps I should have let Ethan order it from Amazon that morning like he'd asked.  But along came the friendly bookseller who looks after the children's department.  She'd been off for a week so there was a chance, she said, that it had come in and simply not been shelved properly.

Lo and behold, she checked on the system and there were 10 in stock.  We found them on the secondary 3 for 2 table.  This was a smaller table of books behind a tall display.  I didn't know it was there.  Easy to miss, but I guess they have to put all these promotional books somewhere.

And here's the thing, which my little story sort of illustrates.  Browsing bookshops can be fun (there is a great mini-essay on the subject here) but it isn't always fruitful.  Sometimes you can't find stuff and there isn't always a helpful person on hand to sort you out, sometimes you don't have time to browse, sometimes the shop is too busy and you can't get near the tables or the scrum is too annoying to navigate your way through.

Which brings me to my idea.  To be fair it probably only works for book chains with websites but it might add an extra dimension to the link between online and bricks and mortar shopping.   For the sake of this example, and because they are my local bookstore, I will use Waterstone's to illustrate.

Ready?

I should be able to visit waterstones.com and print off a list of all the books that are in their 3 for 2.  This could be a straight A-Z by author, something I could view by department or a pretty version with lots of jackets - perhaps I could choose which way I want to view it.  I can then tick off the ones I want and then, here's the science bit, I walk into the shop and hand it over to a bookseller.  They then go and find them for me, I hand over a piece of plastic and punch in my pin.  Job done.

I guess there could be all sorts of variations of this simple system.  I could have fun playing hunt the book myself with my sheet of paper.  There could be a way of using an online form to send the order to the shop for me to pick up later.  The lists could be available the day before the offer starts, creating a bit of pre-awareness.  I am sure there are others.

The beauty to this system is that I can take my time to choose the three (or six, or nine) books that I want.  I don't have to rush because I am on my lunch break or need a wee or have a child that wants to go home because they're bored or whatever.  I can read reviews online or sample chapters if they are available.  Lovely.

Yes, I know it isn't as fun as really browsing but you don't always have the luxury of time.

So there you go book retail.  You can have this idea for free (although my consultancy rates are very reasonable).  Just don't pretend you thought of it yourself.

Unless it is a really crap idea.  Is it?  I'd use it.  Probably.

Comments

[Anne Brooke]

Fab idea. I'd do it.

A
xxx

[Em]

I don't understand what the role of the physical bookstore is here, though. If you're going to browse online, why not buy online too? I don't quite get the fun in handing a sheet of paper to a member of staff. Or am I missing the point?

[Scott Pack]

Ahh Em. My point is that you might want to take advantage of the 3 for 2 offer (i.e. one book free) without having to pay for postage.

Also, bookshops produce catalogues every Christmas because they feel customers could do with some help to navigate the many books on offer. This is a similar concept, although much cheaper to produce and only distributed to people that want it or need it.

You will also find that many in-store multibuys are not reflected online. £s off deals are easy for retailers to manage online but multibuys can be more tricky. This idea assumes that browsing a multibuy is part of the fun but that browsing doesn't always have to be done in the shop.

It just strikes me as a fairly easy way to encourage more people to explore the full range of a promotion, rather than just the front table.

As a small publisher whose books are often in section offers only, I like the idea of it.

[Lorna Read]

It's a great idea. I love it and I'd certainly use it.

[Kieron]

You've not fully thought this through have you?

Could short cut the printing and just reserve the stock electronically in store with a stock checker built in. Your solution sort of does this without the stock check and the book finding happening after you've printed it off walked in and hoped 1. to find a bookseller and 2. found a quiet-ish period for them to find your books.

On SamedayBooks.com (this isn't an ad) customers can use the site to reserve in store and then we send them an auto text message as soon as the book is put by so they can pop in and collect.

This becomes even more useful when they want a book that isn't in a massive front of store promotion - perhaps something full price in the backlist ;)

Keep thinking your thinks though

Kieron

[Daniel Clay]

I think it's a great idea. It would be even better if you could sign up for an e-mail list and be alerted to what was coming up on offer each time the list got updated. I hardly ever get into the high street and Amazon's the natural port-of-call for me online, so this could be a really good way for bookstores to fight that.

[GarciaFan]

Free delivery on everything at Waterstones.com, so no need to pay postage. Really, do you want bookshops where your sole involvement with the shop is stepping over the threshold to hand a slip of paper to a skivvie so they can scuttle off to fetch your books?

This really comes down to the relevance of bricks and mortar stores in an electronic world. Actually, to me, the great strength of physical stores like Waterstones (or HMV) - is browsing in them.

I think if there's one thing that Amazon and others don't do well, it's browsing.

In a shop, I'm able to assimilate a wall of books and head towards titles I wanted to buy, those I hadn't thought of buying, those with eye-catching covers, or those titles I'd vaguely heard about, forgotten about, and now remembered! Then there are the books I'd never have thought of buying in a million years, had someone not helpfully put them out on a table or display in the shop.

Go to Amazon and I can find a specific book I'm after very easily, and I can be taken on to titles that appealed to other purchasers of that title.

But browsing? I can look at the most popular books, but that can be a soul-destroying experience, even in sub-categories, with the same books coming up again and again. Even their 3 for 2 promotions can be hard to navigate with soulless lists on several tabs. Picking up and thumbing a book is much better.

It's always seemed to me that Argos is actually the best placed chain in the country to accommodate the click and reserve model. Because their stock is kept out of the way, there's minimal theft and people don't leave things in the wrong place the way books get moved around by idle browsers. I guess that this is the only reason I can't do this at Waterstones. If they only have two copies of a title in stock, they can't actually guarantee that they'll have it when I walk in the shop. One might have been stolen, and one mis-shelved.

But if their stock indicator says that they have more than, say, three copies of a book, they could surely reserve it?

I think the reason Argos seems to work is the immediacy. I can click here and reserve something now to pick up at lunchtime or after work, safe in the knowledge that I can get it today - guaranteed. With Amazon, although the price is likely to be a little cheaper, I don't have that immediate visceral thrill. I have to wait at least until tomorrow for first class postage, or more likely a couple of days or more.

So I'm happy to pay something a little higher than the online price for getting it immediately.

[Derek]

I like the idea, but from the perspective of the employee on the floor of large bookstore here in Toronto, I cringe at what would inevitably happen.

-when the customer arrives, we haven't received the books yet from the publisher."but your website ways you have these books!!"
-we have sold out..."but your website says you have these books!!"
-we have a couple left that can't be found, i.e. either on hold for another customer or stolen
-for our company, online prices are always cheaper than in the store, so I see more arguments, unless of course the 3for2 clearly states only available in store
-If these scenarios were to occur, I think the customer's impression would be even worse than if they came into the store to browse the tables, because if they simply come in to browse, they haven't been "promised" anything by head office that the store can't deliver at that moment. They simply browse and choose.

I suppose if the supply chain part of this could be mastered it would work, but for the last 5 or so years, I consistently see publishers failing to ship books in time to the stores for table positions that they've paid thousands for. Harder still, customer expectations would have to be managed. Good luck. The bigger the chain, the more they think it's McDonalds. And they never sell out of McChickens.

Also, with this 3for2 tradition you have now, doesn't it just lead to everyone buying the same books all the time? *yawn*. Doesn't it lead to a decision to purchase a book based on price point and not the merits of the book itself? I was recently in Britain, in a very large and well stocked Waterstones, the shelves bursting with incredible backlist titles. Of course all the action was around the 3for2 tables. A shame. And not very profitable I would guess. This is obviously for another discussion altogether.

[Scott Pack]

Kieron - I don't claim that my idea is perfect but I have thunk it through a bit. I did point out that there could be a number of ways of using the concept, not just printing off, but I do think the print out would work for many people. Clicking a list online would certainly work but it isn't portable and you can't sit down with a cup of tea while you do it. The Waterstone's website already shows availability by store so it can't be that hard to have that feed through to the list. Select your local branch and this list only shows what they have. Also, I don't buy the suggestion that the staff would need to wait for a quiet period to find my books, they should be delighted to run off and get them for me if I can't be bothered myself! The Samedaybooks concept sounds good but you have closed my local branch so it is no use to me. All fair challenges though.

Daniel - that's the spirit. Book chains using their websites and mailing lists to send people into stores has to be embraced if the two are going to work together.

Garciafan - I am not suggesting that would you sold interaction with the store but sometimes it might be the way you want to shop. Also, I only propose handing the list over as one way of using it.

Derek - you make very valid points from a store perspective but hopefully this system could be linked to store availability in some way. I like your comments on 3 for 2s.

This blog post was reported on a book trade news website and that seems to have sent a lot of people this way today. I don't claim that this is a foolproof idea but I do think there is a nugget there worth playing with.

[Maria]

I love the idea. I'd definitely use it. I often browse online, find what I want and then find the quickest and cheapest way to get it. If I have a border's gift card, I call them. I ask them to pull a copy and then I pick it up. Do I browse while in the store...maybe. But I usually don't buy anything else. I just spent probably half hour browsing the web to get EXACTLY THE BOOK I want. What's to look for? Unless I have more money on my card, I'm much more likely to start the whole "who has it cheapest" game.

I wish we had 3 for 2 here. We don't. But if we did, I'd definitely want to browse the list so I could pick out the 3 I wanted beforehand. When you're standing in the store, kids are screaming behind you or the coffee lady is frothing milk and theres a squeal in the machine, or they've tucked the table you want to look at behind some other table so you have to crawl under one and then be thin as a rail to stand between the two...

I browse the library--but even then, I browse online using their catalogue before I go there. If I find something else while I'm there, great, but I do go with list in hand.

[Sally Z]

Did you ever do a stint as a sales assistant in a 'small' branch of Waterstone's just to see what it's actually like? Assistants are pared to the bone anyway and when you're not on the till you're up a ladder shelf-stacking (or the reverse, removing stuff to return.)

I was always happy to find books for customers, especially the elderly and infirm - but not for the able-bodied who can't be bothered and only when I wasn't the only one on the shop floor and had to be within striking distance of the till. (Sacking offence to leave the till-point unattended.) So, when you're employed to stay glued to the till and your other oppo is dealing with someone who wants a birthday present for his wife who likes books but has read most of them and is very fussy so can you help me? it's not easy to trot around with a list another customer waves under your nose. Disappear from the till for one second and you can guarantee a queue of tutting, irritated and some downright aggressive punters waiting to pay. And the manager on his way out to lunch with that blonde rep with legs up to her armpits . . .

Great idea - but I can't see it working. Unless they employed more staff and paid them slightly more than the minimum wage.

[Scott Pack]

Good points Sally, but let's be fair - that blonde rep is a bit hot.

Only joking. I have spent time working in a bookshop and what you say is very true, but...

- In my example the shop would have lost a sale if the bookseller hadn't been around, and the sale would have been lost despite me looking in the place the book should have been. Relying on customers to find the books themselves doesn't work if the books aren't where they're supposed to be.
- The golden rule when I was in record shops was 'always take the customer to the product', something I rarely see in chain book shops. If someone asks for the new Alice Sebold you take them to it, put in in their hands and you are far more likely to get the sale. The vague wave and a quick 'it's over there' doesn't quite have the same strike rate.
- Everyone working in shops will admit, if they are being honest, that customers are an interruption who get in the way of the other work.

Of course, much of the above and my original post, assumes correct staffing levels in branches which I know is an issue and is the main point you raise.

I still think my idea would work though.

[Sally Z]

It would work beautifully if I did the picking while you dealt diplomatically with the tutters and sighers in the till queue. And the rep won't even notice you. Nor the bods from head office on one of their sweeping visits!

[iain mullen]

Not having booksellers on the shopfloor is a criminally blinkered attitude to book selling. Unlike music retail, where punters get to 'sample the product' all around them, quality, credible book selling is, in my experience all about the one to one.
I know this is a utopian view of retailing, but if you buy into the 'floor walking' mentality, then the sales will come. As Scott points out the whole ethos of the HMV way was, take the customer to the product.