The number of unsold books that were returned to publishers fell from about 20 percent before Daunt took over to just 4 percent today.
A small but important waste reduction.
It seems that by freeing the staff he's created what's effectively a chain of indie bookstores, where each one has its character determined by the staff. This works because people who work in bookstores are far more likely to love books than other kinds of retail workers love their product (except maybe some fashion brands, but they're tightly brand-controlled).
Books are stocked sale-or-return. Upgrading your hit-rate from 80% to 96% takes epic customer insight.
I suspect the range has shrunk, so there won't be many quirky or indie books. But they're mostly doing okay online. So...
>It seems that by freeing the staff he's created what's effectively a chain of indie bookstores.
There must be more going on, otherwise staff would make random picks of whatever they're into and fail to sell them - which is what happens to a lot of indies.
But I think there's another difference - the UK still has a culture of literacy of sorts, while in the US that's much less obvious. So although the population is much bigger, I wouldn't be surprised if the number of active book buyers - as opposed to the best-seller-a-year crowd - is about the same.
Spread those over a much bigger geographical area and there are problems of delivery, stock choice, and logistics that don't apply in the UK.
The Waterstones model could possibly work in the US, but B&N would have to kill its warehouses, move its non-book stock online, and rent plenty of smaller city centre shops near business and tourist districts - which would be expensive and risky without some trial runs.
> There must be more going on, otherwise staff would make random picks of whatever they're into and fail to sell them - which is what happens to a lot of indies.
This was actually described in the article:
"Next came the staff. Daunt shrunk Waterstones’ central office and fired half of the store managers. He gave those booksellers who remained almost complete autonomy over how to arrange their stores—from the windows to the signage to the display tables—but controlled the stock with a dictatorial zeal. Out went books you wouldn’t want to browse: reference, technical guides, legal textbooks."
The choice and local culture from the on-the-ground booksellers comes from the layout of the store, but what could ever make it into the hands of the bookseller is centrally managed which is probably the biggest difference to an indie. Reducing the stock to things that are more likely going to be impulse buys probably has a lot to do with it, since it is really impossible to keep a wonderful reference book selection that is fun to browse and easy to take home. The only time I see that work is if it is extremely close to a university or it is a used bookseller. In the used bookseller case they get the reference books for a fraction of the cost and can list them online as well but they don't have to worry about the day to day events.
> Upgrading your hit-rate from 80% to 96% takes epic customer insight.
Well, no. If you cut the number of books you ordered down to 1, it wouldn't be very difficult to get 100% hit-rate. (Until your store died, of course). You need more than just the single statistic.
The 'indie' comment rings very true in my experience. Each Waterstones I've been in seems to have a unique feel but still remains under a strong brand.
I think the one in Taunton is great as I think that one has a huge reading area upstairs. Cheltenham is different with its café and condensed layout. The Guildford one is three levels I think and has loads of more niche stuff up top (where it belongs really, not taking up prime first floor popular sales).
Staff are always nice to speak to, find stuff I've needed straight away and best of all they have an ebook store too. Like you said, they seem to love books too which really helps as they seem 'interested' in helping you and to talk about the genre you're interested in. I credit one guy in Cribbs Causeway store for getting me started with Peter Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds.
Yikes, I've just realised I've been in a lot of Waterstones shops!
> It seems that by freeing the staff he's created what's effectively a chain of indie bookstores, where each one has its character determined by the staff.
ISTR that Blockbuster pursued a centralized alternative to this strategy (using community demographic analysis to make store stocking decisions, rather leaving store leadership independent), which was very successful until they ran into the whirling blades of Netflix; I think either independent or centralized demographic targeting of specific stores could work well for big-box bookstores, what probably won't for a chain with stores in lots of different communities is cookie-cutter layout.
A small but important waste reduction.
It seems that by freeing the staff he's created what's effectively a chain of indie bookstores, where each one has its character determined by the staff. This works because people who work in bookstores are far more likely to love books than other kinds of retail workers love their product (except maybe some fashion brands, but they're tightly brand-controlled).