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DAMIAN HORNER
Damian Horner was a founder of Mustoes advertising agency and is a freelance marketing consultant.
Floor fillers
12.06.08
Many people do the same things again and again, even if they don’t quite work, because it is what they have always done. These ruts are called patterns of behaviour, and they are a curse. Success in almost all aspects of life can often come from putting existing patterns of behaviour to one side and examining a situation with fresh eyes. In other words, do what Dick Fosbury did for high jumping when he invented jumping backwards over the bar (the Fosbury flop).
With bookshops finding it tougher to survive, now is the time to be bold and break some existing patterns of behaviour. One key area to examine is the way books are signposted. Currently, there is a strict class system to the way books are displayed, which is used in almost all stores, regardless of size or location. In essence, books are either important and new, thus they’re discounted and placed front of store, or they are older and less important, meaning they are grouped by genre and shelved alphabetically at the back of the store.
The problem with this approach is that it actively divides consumers. Only people who know exactly what they want can browse the alphabetical shelving at the back. Everyone else is funnelled into choosing from the discounted books at the front. This is commercial suicide. Stores are actively pushing consumers towards the books that make them less money. But what is the alternative?
This is where we have to break patterns of behaviour. The current approach is very industry-driven and is based on the two axes of genre and surname. What if we changed this, and instead looked at it from the point of view of readers, using the axes of content and tone?
So, for example, why not have a section of books that are all “Uplifting”? This could include everything from Touching the Void to Driving Over Lemons. Or how about a section of books that are “Intricate”, including literary fiction like Cloud Atlas and The Raw Shark Texts. Or “Provocative” books such as The Fountainhead, My Sister’s Keeper and American Psycho.
These categories would herald a genuinely new way for consumers to engage with books. Unlike the current process, which is very conservative, this new model would lead to more experimentation, be more rewarding and even be more exciting. It would also re-affirm the expertise and knowledge of booksellers at a time when this is being eroded.
You may think it all sounds like madness—but just remember, that’s exactly what people thought of Dick Fosbury when he announced he was going to jump backwards.
Comments on this article
By down by the beach
Is this not exactly what the QI bookshop in Oxford did? I loved this, it was brilliant. The bookshop is now closed, of course.12 Jun 08 15:19
By Bert
The trouble with "uplifting", "inrticate" or other such descriptions is that they're all so subjective. For example The Time Traveller's Wife is uplifting, intricate and melancholic - is this going to go in three places, or just one? Perhaps someone else in the shop will see it in a fourth way - and suddenly those people who previously shopped the ranges because they knew what they were looking for, suddenly no longer know where to look for what they want. It would herald a genuinely new way, but so would digging a hole, throwing in all the books and handing the customer a fishing rod. Customers shouldn't have to rely on the expertise and knowledge of booksellers - especially since most booksellers pay small wages to their front line staff - they're never going to get the right people. Madness. And commericial suicide.12 Jun 08 16:59
By An Experienced Manager
Especially in light of all the hoo-ha over age-ranging, I think suggesting shelving books by content is retail suicide. As Bert correctly suggest above, where on Earth is one meant to shelve a book like 'Time Traveller's Wife'? Or 'The Bible' - 'educational tool' perhaps? Or 'Fiction' if you happen to be an atheistic store manager. Dick Fosbury did indeed experiment with a back-first jumping technique, because he couldn't master the straddle. But one thing is very important to note here - he didn't have hundreds of thousands of pounds invested on the basis of his new technique succeeding or failing.The problem with the suggestions above is that the conversion rate (between footfall and purhcases) will come crashing down as you're going to be confusing a larger number of shoppers with the new system than the small number with the current. The majority of customers fall in to two categories: A) those that know what they want, and B) those that don't.
Of type A) - the majority know what they want either because they've either seen an advert, heard about a book, or they've been given a recommendation. If they've seen an ad, then it is more than likely to be a new title and therefore it makes complete sense for it to be at 'Front of House' within a store. These are the new books that will sell more often then any other and will need space to be faced-out, piled-high, put-in-the-window and therefore, logically at front of shop.
To locate them at the back will just infuriate shoppers and wil run a high risk of losing them. If Cherie Blair's memoirs, Devil May Care, Sepulchre, Healthy Appetite, Richard and Judy picks are NOT at 'Front of House' then I'd suggest the customer is highly likely to left with the opinion that the manager is a maniac. Therefore losing your chance of a repeat purchase and suffer a dire conversion rate! If they've been given a recommendation, then only the knowledge of the alphabet and genre is needed to find the book. And some confidence to ask a bookseller if they are unable to locate the title.
Customer B doesn't know what they want and as such they are highly UNlikely to want to spend 30 minutes browsing an incomprehensible catgorisation system. Much more likely, they'll prefer something new, something from a themed display maybe, they may want advice. In all these cases, talked about books, displays, the tillpoint NEED to be close to the door as you are dealing with the customer who is a floating buyer. Front of store is where the quick money is made, where the books are piled high and attractive to the shopper, enticing passers by to come in and spend.
Having managed a bookshop and worked in the business for the majority of the last ten years, managing a store with an annual turnover over the £2m mark, talking to customers, observing their buying habits, trying new things, some good, some bad, studying what works and what doesn't, conducting research projects, and maintaining a profit, I think I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to knowing what works.
The "Horner Store" won't - a lá Oxford's QI. In all my years, NEVER has a customer come into the shop and asked for the "uplifting" section or an "intricate" section. They want "sport" and "crime". And all those who have wanted "Touching the Void" have asked the following: "Excuse me. Do you have a mountaineering section?" Perhaps Mr Horner, in his time a "marketing consultant", he should spend some of it, the majority of it, doing a bit of "research". Talking to people in the "real world" might help.
Apologies if this comes across as a little intense. I just get riled when someone claims their idea will "be more rewarding" when all pre-conceived evidence points to the contrary. Mr Horner's idea is not a Fosbury moment for bookselling. It's the opposte. It's the moment when Joe Bloggs comes along and says "I think I'm going to try the straddle again".
12 Jun 08 23:55
By Who?
What a ridiculous concept. Who is anyone to decide that something is 'uplifting.' And what about books which are both 'humorous' and 'though-provoking' and 'uplifting' and ‘life changing’ and ‘heart-breaking’ and ‘historical’ and ‘post-modern’ all at the same time? Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated is all these and many more, so how could it once and for all be defined simply as one of these. Because if habit says it is ‘ppost-modern’ then it will always remain so. As has already been said, that sort of theme based selling is achieved perfectly well by dumpbins and tables. If you talk to many booksellers they will tell you that it is these sort of themed displays which already inspire their most creative output. So I say NO! books are not easily definable and categorising books is the blinkered, archaic thinking that we in retail should be moving away from. I agree with many of your points - the age-old divide between new and old is stupid, but the answer is not just to replace one arbitrary system of arrangement with another. What is that going to solve? Rather, the answer lies in removing the existing barriers that keep readers from browsing a greater range of books than they otherwise would. For example, why do we lump all books speculatively described as 'Science Fiction and Fantasy' together, separated from the rest of Fiction? There is a huge difference between Science Fiction a la Philip K Dick and Fantasy a la T.H. White, far more difference than there is between a Magical Realist author like Salman Rushdie and the aforementioned Mr. White. Why are old books (classics) given their own section and where is the line between a classic and something shelved in fiction? Why is Donna Tartt's The Secret History classified as Fiction when it centres around a murder, but Jed Rubenfeld's The Interpretation of Murder is determined as Crime. There arbitrary divisions basically amount to how ‘literary’ the books style of prose is. So distinctions of Crime and Sci-Fi are inherently about the demarcation of quality fiction and not so quality fiction. Why else are some book published in A format, while others get B Format. It is all about little signals of what is worthy of debate and discussion, what is just a quick and exciting bedtime read, and what is for spotty teenage nerds. This is wrong; it goes against everything that is great in fiction. The result of these simple distinctions is that those who generally read fiction will turn their nose up at the very prospect of reading anything shelved in Crime or Sci-Fi (I myself have to fight against my tendency to do this) while those who enjoy Crime tend only to read crime, never to expand their horizons and look at other genres. Similarly you have whole groups of sci-fi fans who are derided, stereotyped, compartmentalised. Junot Diaz won the Pulitzer Prize this year for the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao which is almost exclusively rooted in sci-fi history, and yet it is shelved in fiction just because he is considered a writer of prose. It is all very limiting. I have a dream that one day I will not work for a chain retailer, but will open an independent bookshop named Stories. I have a dream that one day little Crime books and little Classics will be able to join hands and sit snugly together on a shelf, no longer separated by the arbitrary nature of their content, no longer qualified by their target audience. I have a dream that one day instead of encouraging the distinction between great works of fiction we will unite them together and say to customers; "here we have some lovely stories; some of them have their basis in philosophy, some in science, some in history, some in nowhere but the imagination. Some are exciting page turners, some slow meditations on life and death; some will make you cry on one page and lift you up into ecstatic raptures of laughter the next. But they are all great works of fiction. Just give them a go, who knows what wonderful worlds you will discover." It is impossible to have enough themed dumpbins and tables: on these you can group together almost any concept in the world and bring diverse books together. For example, we currently have one dumpbin full of fiction about animals (Paws for thought) and another on books in translation. In the past we have done cult fiction, Booker Winners, scary stories for Halloween, re-told classics, and many other such themes. I love it. But lets not say that these are forever determined categories, that this is the ultimate and only valid interpretation of any book. The basic system of categorisation should be whether something is fiction or not. If it is, then the shelves should be the meeting place for all genres to join hands in unison. And from there, from this equal basis, the books are free to be labelled as whatever one wishes, free from the yoke of stereotype and marketing. Yours, Sam Ruddock13 Jun 08 10:46
By Bhupash
Erm...don't Hatchard's already do this? The rest of you need to untwist. It's hardly age-ranging, itsa perfectly valid suggestion.13 Jun 08 14:38
By June Austin
Interesting though, but wouldn't work for non fiction. Anyway, who's to say how a book makes other people feel - it is very much subjective and depends on the reader.14 Jun 08 15:55
By gabrielle
Depends on your definition of 'valid'. Horner's only expressing an opinion. But it's an opinion built on very shaky foundations - i.e. V little evidence that customers would prefer bookshops to be set out that way, I agree with the ex-boss. Horner is incorrent to suggest that "this new model would lead to more experimentation, be more rewarding and even be more exciting". Although more experimentational, it wouldn't be more successful than the current system (Duh, bookshops have stuck to the current model for years and years and years for good reason - it's the best). And it won't be more exciting. It'll be more confusing. A headache to staff and customers alike. Come on Bhupash, and Horner, if you were going to go into a supermarket that had arranged all the food on the basis of how it made you feel, where would you look for Edam? The 'uplifting' isle? The 'quesy isle'? The 'worried about how the saturated fats will affect my GI diet' isle? And no, Hatchards shelve in genres. And the Queen shops there. She don't seem to have a problem with it14 Jun 08 22:48
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