News

"Daunt model" to be applied to Waterstone's

01.01.70 | Katie Allen

Waterstone's is thought to be organising the management of its stores into groups of bookshops with similar profiles, following a structure akin to that of Daunt Books.

M.d. James Daunt is thought to be splitting Waterstone's bookshops, which number about 300, into 40 smaller groups, categorising them according to size and the socio-economic status of their customers. Waterstone's is currently organised into large regional blocks, and it is not clear if the physical location of shops will play any part in the new structure.

Each of the new small groupings will have its own commercial manager, who will be responsible for up to 10 shops. The managers will tailor shops with local campaigns and be responsible for all mass merchandised areas, including title selection in the front of stores, feature space on tables and stock replenishment. The commercial managers will be managed by three divisional commercial managers.

In a letter about the new central buying process sent to publishers this week, Sarah Clarke, Waterstone's range manager, and Simon Burke, campaign manager, said: “We are currently developing a new core range tool that will allow us to build unique ranges for each store type. All titles will be reviewed considering criteria such as market (upmarket, general, mass), locality (metropolitan, rural, seaside, tourist, etc.), and customer type (professional, student, etc.).

“Local interest titles can be added to core at store by store level or geographical area. Titles in this group will include books on the local area, local authors, and titles set locally.”

The new central buying process is expected to begin during October and be completed by end of year. The company is recruiting for its campaign and range teams.  
 

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By minime

Seems reasonable to assume Hampstead store will be similar to say Cheltenham but 100 miles apart

Mon, 12/09/2011 - 15:55
By JULIAN RIVERS

This is broadly the segmentation model adopted by Dillons .Superstores [Gower St , Piccadilly] through to University campus stores [Canterbury, Edgbaston etc] .
The difference now is that maybe Waterstones could present this as an issue to be given to publishers to support at least the Band One superstores with Supermarket style supply terms . These bookshops have considerable occupation and staffing cost and the requirement to hold substantial stock depth AND range . This would require a separate terms register for publishers for such stores, but it would be worth it .

Dont allow publishers to argue that they would reduce the terms to the lower band of shops to compensate , this would be a much overdue upward only terms review applying to the trade houses in particular]

Mon, 12/09/2011 - 16:07
By Clive Keeble

Julian, I can imagine that many publishers would refuse to jump to your wishes as expressed above.

These publishers have survived throughout the last decade without a meaningful stock range in Waterstone's ; they don't supply the supermarkets and are not prepared to disadvantage (on terms) the outlets which have showcased their titles.

When I entered retail over 50 years ago branch managers were on the shop floor managing not in the office doing clerical tasks ; in modern corporate retailing so many layers have been added - but apparently to no great advantage on the bottom line.

Strange as it might now seem, I recall a number of upmarket publishers telling me ten or so years ago that their best sales outlet in the UK was Ottakar's in Milton Keynes. This probably had more down to a very progressive and enlightened branch management rather than the location.

Tue, 13/09/2011 - 09:03
By back to basics

Ottakars had a great model - each store could have been working happily on its own, without being hounded by regional managers policing staff and inspecting that the book piles looked exactly like the photo from head office. What on earth are managers for? Why did they - until now - need constant harassing and checking by RMs who had no idea of the day-to-day customers?

Our current manager can be found most of the time sitting in the office. Some weak managers are really hiding behind their paperwork. The result of this is that they really don't know their staff as they spend too little time working alongside them.

Fri, 16/09/2011 - 23:32
By back to basics

I suspect one only has to look at the type of book sales to find out which stores have a similar client base - not rocket science, is it? I can sit in London and know what kind of books I should order for Bracknell, Bath or Hull.

On that subject headlines after the riots proclaiming that the book shops had been spared made us howl with laughter. I suspect even that not one book was stolen during by the looters.

Fri, 16/09/2011 - 23:39
By A publisher

The truth is publishers have got used to doing without waterstones and many have already trimmed lists accordingly.

Sat, 17/09/2011 - 08:07
By Nupreader

As a punter I like the idea of Waterstones becoming a bookstore again. Independent bookshops are always the best ones to visit to browse and discover books you didn't know existed because the sales people enjoy talking to customers about books. One can choose presents, explore local history and learn new skills. The closer Waterstones gets to this the better.

If I know what I want I don't go to a book shop; I go online to either Abebooks or Amazon - usually the former.

Sat, 17/09/2011 - 18:45
By minime

Seems reasonable to assume Hampstead store will be similar to say Cheltenham but 100 miles apart

Mon, 12/09/2011 - 15:55
By back to basics

I suspect one only has to look at the type of book sales to find out which stores have a similar client base - not rocket science, is it? I can sit in London and know what kind of books I should order for Bracknell, Bath or Hull.

On that subject headlines after the riots proclaiming that the book shops had been spared made us howl with laughter. I suspect even that not one book was stolen during by the looters.

Fri, 16/09/2011 - 23:39
By JULIAN RIVERS

This is broadly the segmentation model adopted by Dillons .Superstores [Gower St , Piccadilly] through to University campus stores [Canterbury, Edgbaston etc] .
The difference now is that maybe Waterstones could present this as an issue to be given to publishers to support at least the Band One superstores with Supermarket style supply terms . These bookshops have considerable occupation and staffing cost and the requirement to hold substantial stock depth AND range . This would require a separate terms register for publishers for such stores, but it would be worth it .

Dont allow publishers to argue that they would reduce the terms to the lower band of shops to compensate , this would be a much overdue upward only terms review applying to the trade houses in particular]

Mon, 12/09/2011 - 16:07
By Clive Keeble

Julian, I can imagine that many publishers would refuse to jump to your wishes as expressed above.

These publishers have survived throughout the last decade without a meaningful stock range in Waterstone's ; they don't supply the supermarkets and are not prepared to disadvantage (on terms) the outlets which have showcased their titles.

When I entered retail over 50 years ago branch managers were on the shop floor managing not in the office doing clerical tasks ; in modern corporate retailing so many layers have been added - but apparently to no great advantage on the bottom line.

Strange as it might now seem, I recall a number of upmarket publishers telling me ten or so years ago that their best sales outlet in the UK was Ottakar's in Milton Keynes. This probably had more down to a very progressive and enlightened branch management rather than the location.

Tue, 13/09/2011 - 09:03
By back to basics

Ottakars had a great model - each store could have been working happily on its own, without being hounded by regional managers policing staff and inspecting that the book piles looked exactly like the photo from head office. What on earth are managers for? Why did they - until now - need constant harassing and checking by RMs who had no idea of the day-to-day customers?

Our current manager can be found most of the time sitting in the office. Some weak managers are really hiding behind their paperwork. The result of this is that they really don't know their staff as they spend too little time working alongside them.

Fri, 16/09/2011 - 23:32
By A publisher

The truth is publishers have got used to doing without waterstones and many have already trimmed lists accordingly.

Sat, 17/09/2011 - 08:07
By Nupreader

As a punter I like the idea of Waterstones becoming a bookstore again. Independent bookshops are always the best ones to visit to browse and discover books you didn't know existed because the sales people enjoy talking to customers about books. One can choose presents, explore local history and learn new skills. The closer Waterstones gets to this the better.

If I know what I want I don't go to a book shop; I go online to either Abebooks or Amazon - usually the former.

Sat, 17/09/2011 - 18:45

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