NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> Bookstore partner programmes - get real!
ONLINE-ADS>> Bookstore partner programmes - get real!
Ray Taylor (taylor_at_bizbiz.com)
Wed, 06 Aug 1997 08:47:25 +0100
Take a leaf out of the book (ooops, sorry about the pun) of the (UK)
print magazine publishers. If you want to run a book club on your site,
do a deal with a publisher that gives you 25-30% of the sale price.
Hardly likely in the more open US market.
Amazon and the others offer a great opportunity to offer added value
services to your Web site users, but they will never make you rich. If
you can tie up a deal with a specialist publishers and can guarantee a
level of volume, that will be the best model.
If you are a book retailer then you should treat the Web sales as an
added delivery mechanism (for the sales). There is little difference
between Web sales and mail order, except that Web is cheaper and
quicker, and the way of the future.
But to have Web alone, you need big, big volumes, so that you can
compete with the Amazons. If you want to have Amazon do the work for
you, don't be suprised if they take the profit (eventually?), why
shouldn't they?
As in many aspect of Web business, multiple revenue streams are
essential. Web book sales and regular mail order business go together
well, so if you want to do one, do the other. Selling books is about
maintaining a relationship with readers. You need repeat sales.
Mail regular offers to people who have bought before, build in
incentives and goodwill promotions. If the Web revenues are an important
part of the mix, then build your own site and own sales mechanism and
keep the markup that would otherwise go to Amazon.
Amazon partner bookstores are best for non-commercial sites that are
maintained and used by enthusiasts in particular subjects. Building an
online bookstore is easy, looks professional, provides a high level of
service to customers at zero cost. The few dollars a month that an
Amazon partner bookstore produces might help to subsidise the cost of
the Web site, but it ain't business.
Ray Taylor
New Media Communications
London
+44 181 639 0015
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