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National Book Tokens new electronic gift card launched yesterday and had a "busy" first day with over 850 individual transactions.
After years of development the first recorded transaction was at Foyles St Pancras at 8.06 am with the last sale of the day made at 5.12pm in the RazmaReads Children's Bookshop in Greater Manchester. The soft launch will last for the first couple of weeks, while the team iron out any glitches.
Alex de Berry, commercial director of National Book Tokens, said: "Throughout the day the Book Tokens helpline and customer service team was busy dealing with last minute calls from independent booksellers, and whilst there is a great deal still to do to get the system up to full speed, the long awaited National Book Tokens launch day ended without major incident."
De Berry added that over the next couple of weeks Book Tokens would be "working hard to iron out any last minute issues". In mid-February the consumer marketing will kick in with national press and online advertising.
But the move has previously been met with some criticism from independent booksellers. Derrick Meakins, proprietor of Baytree Bookshop, said: "I feel, like I am sure all independents booksellers do, the decision to change to a credit card type operation is a retrograde step, and is certainly not welcomed by independent bookshop owners."