Saving the high street bookshop

David Blackburn

Wednesday, 23rd March 2011

The bell seems to be tolling for the high street bookshop. The HMV Group, which owns Waterstone’s, has issued its third straight profit warning. Waterstone’s is supposedly on target for this financial year, but 11 of its branches were forced to close across the UK and Ireland in February alone and the company has conceded that it can’t compete in the mass market. Therefore, managing director Dominic Myers has decided on a strategy that challenges readers to escape the ‘stifling homogeneity’ of Dan Brown and Katie Price. The latest campaign will push 11 exciting first time novels on a public that largely ignores new novelists.

Admirable though this plan may be, it is accompanied by the whiff of panic. It is the exact Granta-inspired business model that Tim Waterstone demolished in the early '80s. But, given that the ruminations of a meerkat from an advert top the bestseller list, Waterstone’s has little choice but to gravitate towards quality.     

Foreign retailers have it no easier. In the States, Borders is poised to collapse; whilst in Ireland, shrinking giant Eason can’t stop making a loss. Radical measures that should have been taken years ago are finally in the offing. Eason has been forced to introduce another loyalty card package and establish in-store interactive zones, in addition to giving its outlets a lick of paint and a squirt of Fabreeze. The firm is also working to narrow its stock categories, having conceded, like Waterstone’s, that it can’t compete when it comes to shifting Sophie Kinsella. Most conspicuous of all, Eason is relaunching its website to boost sales.

Increasingly, Waterstone’s and Eason see the Internet as a Promised Land, which is odd given that Amazon remains their foremost competitor. On 9th of March, the Institute of Direct Marketing published research suggesting that the internet accounts for 56 percent of all book purchases, of which Amazon has an 80 percent share. That's quite some hegemony to break when sliding backwards. Another recent survey suggested that 90 percent of all book purchases are influenced by online research, which would entrench Amazon’s dominance. And the growing popularity of Kindle and the advent of nationwide high-speed broadband are likely to increase Amazon’s popularity still further. Against brand Amazon, the situation looks pretty bleak for the high street.

Market analysts warn that it will be difficult to arrest current trends without an alternative strategy and sustained capital investment. High street retailers may have the former but they definitely lack the latter. It is rumoured that they are cognisant of their predicament. Waterstone’s is alleged to have tried to cajole publishers into further discounting stock in the hope of challenging the supermarkets that broke the commandment that all books must cost £7.99. So far, Waterstone’s have declined to comment on this issue.

Besides, publishers have their own worries. IbTauris specialises in the politics of the Middle East and Islam. One would have thought that this would be their happy time; but an employee of IbTauris tells me that, despite the gale of change blowing down Arab Street, there has been no noticeable improvement in their UK sales figures. Publicising books is a tricky business. “Generally, we get a significant spike if a book is chosen by popular reading groups or if it’s reviewed by a prominent Sunday newspaper. The correlation is quite striking. It’s a massive bonus if we can get an author on Radio Four’s Start the Week or a TV show, but that doesn’t happen very often. It’s a struggle and it’s the same for every publisher, except when the author’s a household name or related to Harry Potter.”

And so it seems. WHSmith reported this week that sales of the 25 titles selected book for World Book Night increased by 81 per cent on average, amounting to a value of £425,000. Nigel Slater’s Toast was the only title where sales fell. But its performance was astounding after the recent BBC television adaptation and sales have been slipping for some time.

The age-old adage applies: there’s nothing like a plug. But if waiting for Andrew Marr to get curious is like waiting for Godot then it’s scarcely a long-term solution. Other answers are being entertained. There are plenty of oligarchs who devour books as well as ris de veau. Alexander Mamut once sold dog-eared paperbacks on street corners during the death throes of the Soviet Union. Now a tycoon and the major shareholder in growing internet publishing firm SUP, Mamut has been in talks with HMV about buying Waterstone’s. Perhaps the once tatterdemalion Muscovite, and people like him, will be the high street’s salvation.

Blog Tags: Economics , Internet , Non-fiction , Publishing , Society , Television