The fall NVNR Owner Strategy Session began with booksellers sharing their 4th Quarter plans and strategies, before opening the discussion to a variety of issues that were "top of mind" for booksellers in the current uncertain economic climate.
4th Quarter Strategies takeaways:
1. Take Care
- Self Care is important for owners and staff during the busy holiday season!
- Build breaks and meal times for staff into the schedule
- Building in time for breaks reduces stress and increases productivity
- Plan post-season holiday or down time, and treat yourself to something special
- Delegate tasks when possible
- Create a manual of employee guidelines and important store functions
2. Tariffs
- Tariffs are affecting both costs and availability of books.
- Be prepared for key titles to sell out and unable to be restocked in time for Christmas gift purchases.
- Encourage customers to order early if they need a specific book
- Have frank and honest conversations with people about how tariffs are affecting the store.
3. Pop Up Stores
- A plan for running pop up and off site locations during the holiday sales can increase sales and reach new customers
- Look for town and community sponsored events like local festivals, open holiday markets, and smaller private events run by other community groups, churches, book clubs, etc.
- Offsite and Pop up store can time-consuming and demanding for the staff so prioritize them based on your resources and goals.
- Doing pop up stores increases your visibility in the community, and can reach people who otherwise would not see your store.
4. Social Media
- It is important to showcase the exterior of the bookstore, not just individual books or interior photos. It help people recognize the store as part of their community.
- Having a TikTok channel can increase store exposure and reach new audiences, and can be worth pushing past any reticence or embarrassment about posting.
5. Damages
- Damages continue to be a problem, which booksellers find very frustrating when they occur with expensive "deluxe" editions of books with high price tags.
- The risk of damage is reduced when books are ordered in carton quantities.
- Report issues with damaged shipments to sales reps, who can intercede on the store’s behalf.
- Reporting damages via Batch has makes it easier to receive credits from the publishers in a timely manner.