The Bookseller.com

30th August 2008

MARK THWAITE

Mark Thwaite is the managing editor of The Book Depository and the online literary journal ReadySteadyBook.com.

Staying ahead of publishers

24.08.07

At the beginning of the year, I became the managing editor of The Book Depository website, bookdepository.co.uk. After three years of profitable online book-selling, it was time that The Book Depository paid a little more attention to their website than they had been doing thus far! So, having seen what I'd achieved with the online literary journal ReadySteadyBook, Book Depository boss Andrew Crawford brought me on board to help create for his business a more user-friendly and content-driven website.

They key to strong online sales is substance not design. The Book Depository offers free delivery worldwide—1.6 million books can be shipped within 48 hours—we have incredibly competitive prices, an experienced team of great people, and we use many sales channels from Abebooks to Play. A well-designed website is important for building on that substance, essential to creating a brand that your customers know and trust, vital as a means of communicating and listening.

However, the focus of The Book Depository's business over the last 3 years has been on extensive back and front list book availability—making those 1.6 million titles immediately available—and on innovative supply chain solutions. Selling lots of obscure books, and building the complex systems to make this possible, has been where all our energy has been focussed. And we really do sell some odd books -- Knitting Lingerie Style anyone? Building a Shed!?

As more publishers move into the selling field, it is important for retailers to stay ahead of the game. One might ask: are publishers really equipped to sell books directly? Why would anyone visit a publisher website in the first place!? Most readers don't care who publishes their books, and they arenít going to flock to website where they can only buy a tiny range of titles. Customers want great prices and massive choice.

Truth be told, The Book Depository's old website was thrown up in an afternoon: it was functional, not horrible, and serviceable, but not much more than that. So, we've given the new site what I hope is a clean and modern 'look and feel'. This makes navigation much easier than before. We'll listen to our customers' feedback, and we'll keep improving it. A website is an organic thing: we've made a good start in making a great site, but there is always lots of work to do. Further additions to the website's functionality will be rolled out in the coming months.

A website needs a strong editorial voice, as well as an attractive design and great content, to reflect the passion at the heart of a business. When we launched our new look, we wanted the blog to be a prominent part of the site, because having a direct way to communicate to our customerís and to the rest of the Industry is so important to us.

To complement the best availability on the net, we wanted the site to have really descriptive and perceptive reviews. I think we're beginning to achieve this. I hope so. I'm a librarian by profession, and I try to bring some of my knowledge to bear on the site: we want the site to express our love of books, not simply to be just a great shop.

And I'm really excited about what is coming down the line. The most exciting is a project called BibDib. We hope this will be the most extensive bibliographic database ever created. It's going to be very hard work, but it could be massive!

Retail The Book Depository Mark Thwaite