Wednesday 18 July 2007

Harry Potter and the Death of Bookshops

Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsIt probably hasn't escaped your notice that the final Harry Potter book is out this weekend. Looking a bit harder at some of the reporting around this there's considerable grumbling that Harry Potter is the death of independent bookshops and the death of literature and the book industry. I'm not going to argue with facts and figures presented by experts (largely because I can't be bothered) and I'm going to skim over the fact that Harry Potter has brought millions of pounds to it's publisher and all manner of bookshops and even managed to do wonders for film making in the UK. It's a fair point that independents can't compete on price with the bulk sellers like Waterstones and supermarkets that sell at a loss just to get people through the door. So they'll just have to compete on other fronts that big shops can't manage - quality, personal service.

Here are my top 10 hints for getting the most out of Harry Potter (some of which are admittedly a bit late)
  1. Throw a Potter Party - lots of the big shops are doing this, but local shops can make even more of it. Build a community who cares about you and they won't mind paying a little extra to buy from Rita or Chris vs. buying from faceless corporation.
  2. Throw an anti-Potter Party - if you really don't like the book, or don't think you're going to sell many otherwise, make a point of it. Throw a party celebrating other books. Maybe you have some Potter's available at full RRP for the desperate, you can take the high ground *and* take their cash if you advertise it with some humour.
  3. Vouchers - give away books of vouchers with the book for future discounts, you could even have date ranges on them to keep people coming in for the next few months.
  4. Discounts - give people a discount for buying other books, Borders are doing 20% off all books other than Harry Potter before midnight on Friday.
  5. Rely on your locality - independents are saying they can't compete with supermarket prices. If you can't/won't take a hit on your profit margins rely on the fact that people might not want to trek to get a copy of the book and will pay a premium for convenience
  6. Deliver - take your locality even further and jump on your bike. Take pre-orders and a promise to deliver the book to their doorstep.
  7. Reward Schemes - For 3 months before the release of the book offer a stamp scheme, every time you buy a book you get a stamp which will give you a pound off the rrp Harry Potter when it comes out. If you have to give it away free do you really care if it means you've sold 18 books to someone?
  8. Sign people up - if they're pre-ordering, make sure you make the most of having their contact details. Send newsletters, offers and information before and after the event.
  9. Reading groups - just 'cos kids love Potter doesn't mean their parents do. Use Potter to start a reading group that kids can join while their parents browse for their own reading material, or have a coffee. Once you've finished reading the Harry Potter books, slip straight on to something else and keep going.
  10. Potter Support Groups - for the more grown up readers extend the life of the book, have a series of discussion meetings before the launch re-reading the old ones, then discussing the final book, then discussing other similar books.

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