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Kobo’s UK manager Phil Wood described booksellers at yesterday's BA conference as "enthusiastic" in wanting to partner with the company to sell e-books.
The Canadian-based e-book company today announced a partnership with members of the Booksellers Association to allow 3,000 member stores in the UK & Ireland the ability to sell e-books and e-readers.
Wood said he received a positive reception from independent booksellers at the BA Conference held at Warwick University. He said: “I think the majority of booksellers will be signing up, as one bookseller told me, because they want an alternative to challenge Amazon. Publishers will support them and it is a great opportunity to embrace digital.”
Batch has offered to provide the communication channel for BA Members for the Kobo/UK & Irish Bookseller Program so that bookshops can see their invoices for the devices and accessories and the commission that they will have earned on e-books sold. Batch will also disburse the commission and booksellers in the Kobo Partner Program will be paid a percentage on each e-book sale generated from Kobo e-readers which they have sold and from sales made from a link on their website. Batch will also provide the channel for booksellers to access customer data on their sales through Kobo.
Wood added: “When bookshops place an order they will get a delivery of five devices and five accessories and Point of Sale material and marketing support. We welcome Batch’s offer to consolidate the data because it is a nice, flexible system.”
Todd Humphrey, Executive Vice President Business Development for Kobo, said: “We are very excited to work with independent bookstores across the UK and Ireland to bring e-reading to more booklovers. With this partnership, independents will be able to offer a world class e-reading solution to their loyal customers and have a voice in the digital transformation.”