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Two million electronic gift cards are to be sent out by National Book Tokens after the launch date of 1st -February was announced last week.
National Book Tokens has been working with bookshops on the scheme’s implementation for the past 18 months and it said 90% of indies are now set up. Booksellers will be able to use either their credit card machine or a designated website to carry out the transactions when putting money onto the plastic cards or taking a payment.
However, some indies remain unconvinced. Sheila O’Reilly, owner of Dulwich Books, south London, said: “I don’t understand the system, it seems incredibly bureaucratic to me, longwinded, laborious and you have to be connected to the internet. It seems ludicrous to me.” O’Reilly said she would continue to use the paper tokens as they are “quick, efficient and easy to deal with”.
Matthew Clarke, co-owner of The Torbay Bookshop, Devon, said: “The annoying thing is, it is one of these corporate decisions and not at ground level. I think they misunderstand the number of extra sales we get because they are paper.”
Clarke added: “I’m very unhappy about it—I cannot see the benefit, there is also a great big concern that Amazon will accept it and then there will be a meltdown.”
In response to criticism that this move had been caused by the larger chains demanding a change, a spokesperson for National Book Tokens said it had been consumer lead. Supermarkets are also currently not participating. No details were given about the timetable for phasing out the paper tokens.
Other independents said they would be stocking self-produced vouchers for their own shop. Sheridan Swinson, owner of Aardvark Books, Brampton Bryan, Shropshire, said: “We have our own gift cards with printed vouchers. Electronic items aren’t always as special as printed ones are.”
Some indies were more willing to accept the changes.
Nicki Thornton, co-owner of Mostly Books, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, said it was too early to say if the new system would be better. “It will be like everything, there will be swings and roundabouts, some people will love it and some people will hate it,” she said.