e-comm

Inside Bookshop, the E-Comm Startup Bringing Indie Booksellers Online

Don't use Amazon to supply your quarantine book club.
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Francis Scialabba

· less than 3 min read

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

April wasn’t supposed to be the cruelest month for indie bookstores. Amazon commands almost half of all new book sales by units, but figures from the American Booksellers Association (ABA) suggested smaller stores were gaining ground.

  • The number of ABA-registered independent bookstore locations grew to 2,500+ in 2019, a 49% jump from 2009.
  • Average revenue at those indie booksellers grew 5% YoY in 2018.

That plot didn’t age well. COVID-19 forced bookstores to close along with other nonessential businesses. Independent bookstores already run on thin margins, and they’re often reliant on special events like book clubs and signings to generate traffic—events that are all on hold.

Some have adjusted by fashioning their stores as distribution centers for curbside pick-up and online book sales, but that's not making up for store closures. If the sudden surge in Gabriel García Márquez references can’t revive beloved stores, what can?

Answer: the world wide web

If mission-driven e-comm startup Bookshop has its way, your quarantine book club will make its picks from indie bookstores. Bookshop launched in January—but it’s gaining attention in the time of coronavirus. Here’s how it works:

  • ABA-registered independent bookstores can create an online storefront via Bookshop and receive 30% of profits from online orders.
  • Bookshop handles order fulfillment with inventory from wholesaler Ingram.

Bookshop also knows recommendations sell books better than covers—but reviews typically link to the book’s Amazon page. So Bookshop offers a 10% affiliate kickback for paper book sales. Amazon’s affiliate payout for media companies is 4.5%.

Early results: 200+ independent U.S. bookstores are using Bookshop for e-comm so far. Outlets including the NYT and Slate have agreed to start using Bookshop’s affiliate links.

At the time I wrote this, Bookshop had raised over $350,000 for local booksellers. That’s up from over $240,000 just five days ago and about $2,000 on February 1.

My takeaway: Independent bookstores’ community events and curation helped them fight back against Amazon. Bookshop can’t replicate in-store experiences online (yet), but it can move their books back into readers’ hands.

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.