A new online bookshop has united independent booksellers, in an attempt to rival Amazon and support small businesses. Bookshop.org was launched in North America earlier in 2020, and the organisation has broadened its horizons, launching in the United Kingdom in November.
Bookshops have found that their sales are rapidly declining, because of the convenience of online shopping. Because online websites are so readily available and simple to use, fewer and fewer people are purchasing books from their local retailers. The Guardian stated that book sales in the United Kingdom rose to £6.3 billion in 2019, but people are more likely to purchase their books online than in person. COVID-19 lockdown restrictions meant that non-essential shops had to close in the UK, including bookshops. The Bookshop.org website is helping booksellers to be able to pay their rent, so they can afford to reopen when it is safe to do so.
“We are very pleased with the results, and we feel we have been very warmly welcomed by publishers, bookshops and, most importantly, readers.“
– Nicole Vanderbilt, UK Managing Director at Bookshop.org
Andy Hunter launched the website in the US at the start of this year and has already partnered with 130 shops in the United Kingdom. Indie booksellers are able to set up their own virtual shopfront, allowing smaller retailers to broaden their business online. The website hopes that Bookshop.org can ‘help strengthen the fragile ecosystem and margins around bookselling, and keep local bookshops an integral part of our culture.’
When purchasing a book through the website, users can search for a particular bookshop to support, or contribute to an earrings pool. The pool accumulates funds, which are then evenly distributed among the independent bookshops that are partnered with the site. The website currently delivers to the United Kingdom and the United States, with other EU countries currently being actively considered.
