Bookshop UK targets indies and gets off to strong start
Bookshop UK says that, since launching nine days ago, it has generated over £100k in profit for bookshops, and pulled in 25,000 customers.
The venture made its debut in the US earlier this year.
It is the brainchild of the writer and co-founder of Literary Hub, Andy Hunter and allows independent bookshops to create their own virtual shopfront on its site, with the stores receiving the full profit margin – 30% of the cover price – from each sale.
All customer service and shipping are handled by Bookshop and its distributor partners, with titles offered at a small discount and delivered within two to three days.
Bookshop is a B Corporation, created with the mission “to benefit the public good by contributing to the welfare of the independent literary community”. It therefore can’t be sold to a major US retailer, including Amazon
There are now over 300 independent UK bookshops signed up to the site, plus over 2,500 authors, publishers and book bloggers sharing their reading recommendations with shoppers.
Jessica Paul, Owner at Max Minerva bookshop in Bristol, says: "Bookshop.org is a game changer for independent bookshops, by giving publishers the option to link to and recommend indies, it's taken the sting out of Amazon.”
“This is another weapon in our arsenal to provide curated, thoughtful recommendations to our customers who want to shop online."
Jo Zebedee of The Secret Bookshelf in Norther Ireland, comments: “As a small independent bookstore, building our own online shop was something we were struggling to find the resources for.”
“We knew of Bookshop.org’s American store and were excited they were coming to the UK. A week in and we’ve had tremendous fun building lists for the storefront and have been astonished by the success of it.”
