Running a book business or opening a small bookstore is probably the dream of many book lovers who have a special passion for books.
In an era where information technology and the Internet are developing strongly, the presence of bookstores is more cherished than ever.
However, if you think that just by loving and having book business ideas, anyone can do business in this field, you are completely wrong. Just like any other business, the book business much more complex than ideas and dreams.
It requires more than that if you really want to succeed. Here we would like to share with you 3 facts about the book business:
Is selling books profitable and what is the secret to selling books?
1. Selling books requires some special requirements
– Convenient geographical location: selling books or opening a bookstore should be located in areas with high traffic density such as: intersections, major roads; There is a spacious and comfortable parking space. And as you know, such a location often has a real cost of renting space that is not cheap at all.
– Opening hours of the bookstore: Of course, we can’t only trade books during office hours, right? Most of today’s intellectuals are students and office workers. According to the experience of opening a bookstore, they often buy books around the time of school, after work, evenings or weekends. Make sure you are always ready to serve them at all times. Preferably, operating hours are from 9am to 9pm. Weekends can sell books until a little later, 10pm for example.
– Always introduce new or good books from reputable publishers: usually for a book lover, in addition to busy working time, the rest of the time they spend mainly on books. It is normal for customers to buy a few good books a month. Understanding this feature of book lovers, you need to update, learn about new published titles continuously, grasp the general content to confidently introduce to customers.
Just imagine, after a few referrals to good, engaging books that match their interests, these guests will definitely stay loyal to your bookstore.
– Bookstore employees must be knowledgeable people and also love to read: You can’t be at the store often, so the sales staff are the representatives, inspiration, and influence. something to the purchase.
The common point of book lovers is that they want to exchange and share good stories and interesting books that they have read with others. In addition to sales duties, hire people who love to read, have the ability to inspire, attract others to be able to advise effectively.
– Use a book management tool: Even for an ordinary small bookstore, the number of books is certainly extremely large. If you cannot systematize the number of sales and inputs, it will be extremely difficult for you to manage and control. An effective book management software will solve the difficulties in managing and classifying titles, managing book inventory, managing promotions, accumulating customer points…
2. The book business is quite profitable
It is possible that many young people who are eager to start a business in the field of book sales will falter, but it is true. If compared with other businesses such as fashion stores, cosmetics businesses, cafes, restaurants, children’s toys, etc.,
Profit per book is not very high, especially if you only open a small bookstore. Because of the fact, there are many types of costs incurred when starting a business such as rent, electricity, water, staff costs, book entry fees, etc.
Therefore, in addition to your passion and love for books, we still want to advise you to have good financial strength to get through the initial difficult business period.
3. There are many competitors who are selling very strong books in the market today
However, every industry has certain competition. But undeniably, in the book market, there are too many extremely strong competitors. It is not only the long-standing traditional bookstores that have received the favor of many readers, but also the big competitors who have applied technology, the Internet and social networks in their business strategies.
It is easy to see that today, the big book sellers like Tiki, Alphabook, Misa have all entered the online book business environment, so you cannot ignore this sales channel if you do not want to be left behind.
Besides selling books at the store for customers who have a lot of time to visit, you must also promote the online book sales model, because this is the trend and many people have exploded with success thanks to this model. This.
In addition, developing a bookstore fanpage is essential. Most young people in Vietnam own at least one Facebook account and their online shopping needs are extremely high. Let’s build a long-term and sustainable fanpage by always updating information about the best-selling books at the store during the week, month, etc. to stimulate readers.
If reading this far, you are still interested and consider books as an inseparable friend, perhaps opening a bookstore is the right choice for you. To learn more about the steps in the book business, read the article Starting a successful book business with an effective book business plan.
Good luck!
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