Working Hypothesis

For my research essay I will examine the conditions under which small businesses (specifically, bookstore) survive or fail. As the traditional bookshop is few and far between, one can reasonably assume that the rise of online bookselling (ex: Amazon) is to blame. Online booksellers provide convenience as well as reduced prices, which is enough to sway most consumers to purchase their products and neglect smaller, independent booksellers. 

In order for a small business, especially an independently owned and operated bookshop, to survive, they must sell an experience that their internet and corporate competitors cannot offers.

ACADEMIC SOURCES

1. “Shopping for Community: The Transformation of a Bookstore Into a Vital Community Institution”

(https://doi.org/10.1177/016344399021003005)

Background: This study from the University of Western Ontario illustrates the establishment of the independent bookshop as a communal center and the fight against large corporate booksellers.

How I Intend to Use It: I intend to use this source to establish the importance of the bookshop as not only an economic community pillar, but as a social one as well.

NOTES:

2. “Prices and Price Dispersion on the Web: Evidence from the Online Book Industry”

(https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.rowan.edu/stable/3569794?searchText=Prices+and+Price+Dispersion+on+the+Web+Evidence+from+the+Online+Book+Industry&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DPrices%2Band%2BPrice%2BDispersion%2Bon%2Bthe%2BWeb%253A%2BEvidence%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2BOnline%2BBook%2BIndustry&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A68a93acd0b8ecaa860405431e664b821)

Background: This study primarily focuses on price comparison and dispersion among online booksellers.

How I Intend to Use It: I intend to use this source to elaborate the growing monopoly of online booksellers and the use of price cuts to deter competition.

NOTES:

• Prices of books sold by online sellers were lower than those sold by independent sellers
• The majority of books sold online come from Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Borders (as of the 1990s/ early 2000s)
• Larger corporations are able to succeed due to their ability to advertise on a massive scale and sell books for less than their wholesale price

3. “On the Competition Between an Online Bookstore and a Physical Bookstore”

(https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11066-012-9068-y)

Background: This study gives a deeper insight into the benefits and drawbacks of both physical and online booksellers.

How I Intend to Use It: As this study indicates the competitiveness between online and physical bookstores, as well as welfare analysis, I intend to use this source to further elaborate upon my argument against online booksellers.

NOTES:

• Online booksellers can provide customers with lower product prices, but not immediate gratification (as customers must wait to receive orders)
• Physical stores allow consumers to receive immediate satisfaction, but they must pay more for the cost of transportation
• Online bookstores also are able to present a larger variety than physical stores, and by charging lower prices, are able to attract a larger portion of clientele than physical stores

4. “Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores”

(https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/20-068_c19963e7-506c-479a-beb4-bb339cd293ee.pdf)

Background: This study by Harvard Business School examines the vital aspects that a bookstore must possess in order to survive against its online competitors.

How I Intend to Use It: I intend to use this source as a part of my counterintuitive argument to present strategies to benefit the physical bookstore.

NOTES:

• New Indie booksellers are becoming more resilient by tapping into a larger social movement
• Customers have began to recognize the importance of “shopping small” and supporting locally run small businesses
• Independent bookstore owners benefit greatly from the dedication of their employees

5. “The Effect of Sales Promotion and Store Atmosphere Mediated by Positive Emotion on Impulse Buying for Customers in Bookstores”

(https://ejbmr.org/index.php/ejbmr/article/view/1270/775)

Background: This study examines the psychology behind what store environments are favorable and attract costumers and what designs and environments don’t.

How I Intend to Use It: I intend to use this as yet another source to emphasize how physical bookstores must offer an environment that online bookstores cannot in order to maintain clientele.

NOTES:

• In order to produce frequency and diversity, stores utilize promotions such as bonuses, shopping vouchers, and discounts
• Makes customers more likely to impulse-buy
• Store atmosphere: proper internal/ external layout, quiet environment, non-abrasive room odors
• Store atmosphere must be carefully cultivated in order to increase positive emotions of customers, and thus increase their likelihood to make purchases and return

PARAGRAPH 1 

• Intro to recent rise in independent bookstore business 

PARAGRAPH 2

• How businesses lose clientele to online competitors due to pricing 

PARAGRAPH 3 

• How businesses lose clientele to online competitors due to variety 

PARAGRAPH 4

• How businesses lose clientele to online competitors due to convenience 

PARAGRAPH 5

• The impact of social media, current trends, and the rise of ‘indie’ culture on the independent bookstore industry 

PARAGRAPH 6

• Independent bookstores must sell an experience that their online competition cannot offer 
• Offer a sense of community/ comfort 
• Store environment and location effect 

Business Model/ Personal Exploration: Inkwood Books, Haddonfield NJ 

• higher priced literature stock (typical of business) 
• “Monthly picks” for different genres and books recommended by the staff- aspect of hand selling 
• Host events with local authors 
• Host monthly book club meetings 
• Community- Host elementary Book fair 
• Sell products from local artisans- candles, prints/postcards, mugs, tote bags 
• Separate section w/ play area for kids 
• Couches and cushions scattered around shelves to sit and browse/read selections 
• Location: Main Street Haddonfield (shopping district), next to coffee shop