Waterstones bookshop Drake Circus branch Plymouth Group written report

Thèmes abordés

Drake Circus, Plymouth Group

Résumé du document

It has been obvious over the past few years that the traditional book industry is in decline, especially because of the rise of the digital economy and particularly eBooks, online shopping and social media. Despite efforts from the British government to encourage bookshops to favor culture for the whole population (UK government, 2013), the development of eBooks has been constant over the past years, threatening the frequentation of local physical bookshops. (See Appendix 2 – eBooks 2011 sales) For this very branch Waterstones, it is a real challenge since it is located in the student area of Plymouth.

Students and even university staff are more likely to be used to new technologies like eBooks than other types of population. The problem is that eBooks are only available online and cannot be purchased in store, which would help the shop frequentation. Similarly, the competition of online bookshops (Amazon, Bookstore or even Waterstones online) makes the frequentation of this branch declining, even if the tax scandal Amazon has known may be a positive outcome for traditional bookshops such as Waterstones.

Extraits

[...] OCTOBER BOOK PROMOTIONS Halloween NOVEMBER BOOK PROMOTIONS Thanksgiving • holiday cooking and baking, especially cookie books DECEMBER BOOK PROMOTIONS Gift Books Due to the “give-ability” of print books, December hardcover and paperback sales generally outpace the sale of e-books. Also due to the gift-giving factor, there's an uptick in sales “big,” hefty, more expensive books, like • major biographies; coffee table books; art books 10 www.oboolo.com VIII) REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY G. Johnson, K. Scholes, R. Whittington (2005) Exploring Corporate Strategy, Text and Cases, 7th edition. [...]

[...] As a consequence, the labour workforce is obviously adapted to the crucial periods of sales, increasing mainly during the Christmas period, which starts in October from a business point of view. Stocks are made during this period and staff is hired and trained on their sales target. (Publishing.about.com, 2014) The chain bookshop industry also obeys to some continuous trends as market data from the Publisher Association estimate the total value of the UK book market at £3,115m in 2010. Consumer spending in value decreased in while volume decreased in between 2009 and 2010, a trend that has carried on since (Appendix 2 – Consumer book market 2010). [...]

[...] Interest rates are also quite low compared to other European countries with a (BBC, 2013). Waterstones bookshop Plymouth is situated in the Drake Circus shopping centre, along with 60 other retailers. This strategic position gives the shop an advantage due to the customer catchment area. Plus, the fact that it is a physical shop allows customers to take advice from skilled personnel and to actually touch and see the books. Also, it allows the company to organize events which give more visibility to the shop and attract customers. [...]

[...] This report then tackles how this branch is dealing with its environment through specific implications. Finally, based on the analysis developed in this report, some recommendations will be suggested, in order to provide some guidance to this particular branch's future www.oboolo.com II) THE DIGITAL ECONOMY ACCESSION It has been obvious over the past few years that the traditional book industry is in decline, especially because of the rise of the digital economy and particularly eBooks, online shopping and social media. [...]

[...] Similarly, the competition of online bookshops (Amazon, Bookstore or even Waterstones online) makes the frequentation of this branch declining, even if the tax scandal Amazon has known may be a positive outcome for traditional bookshops such as Waterstones. Waterstones, though, tries to adapt to this continuous trend of electronic growth, by being strongly present on social media. In fact, the branch has had its own Twitter and Facebook accounts since late 2010 (Facebook, Twitter, 2014) to keep in touch constantly with its -mostly young- audience about signings, events, releases and discounts. [...]