A reasonably interesting snapshot of where Canada's largest book retailer -- Indigo, which holds 48% of physical book retailing and 60% of Kobo -- is headed in the coming months ... and what management believes are the key issues. The Globe and Mail report
here.
There's also a rather nice "infographic"
here which makes some comparisons of the US and Canadian book markets. Indigo continues to be profitable -- barely -- which is in contrast to the Borders / Barnes & Noble situation in the US. Interestingly, the similarities are stronger than the differences: 57 of Indigo's 96 superstores are 24,000 sq ft. (Indigo operates over 400 locations across the country under several banners. It consolidated every book chain over the past 15 years.)
But what is clear is the management really hasn't a formal strategy to improve the physical retailing business: add more toys, private label housewares, more food related items, cafés, bring back comfy chairs ....
Remarkably, for the owner of Kobo, there isn't a peep on how to integrate offsite sales with onsite ones. Every Kobo sold in store ought to be tagged to the location and percentage of sales be earmarked back to that store. The store itself ought to promote titles to be sold in either physical or electronic medium. And the wifi editions should be able to receive a Kobo / Indigo blog and report events at the local store. The cross-selling opportunities are intense, inexpensive to implement and apparently overlooked.