'No such thing as business as usual anymore'
Philip Downer, former CEO of Borders UK:
I’ve seen what happens when customers drift away from an old-style bricks and mortar format; the age of the superstores is now coming to a close, but there will still be opportunities for low cost base, committed independent booksellers. In a sense, online bookselling has already wrought the primary changes for bookshops – I hope that publishers can manage and control their destiny in the face of the digital revolution. There’s no such thing as business as usual anymore…
I hope that independent booksellers do survive, even though there is plenty of evidence to suggest that they might not.
Also, I do think that Downer might be right that most of the damage has now been done. We have just two major chains left in the UK, Waterstone’s and WH Smith. While I wouldn’t say that either are out of the woods, there must surely be a place for books on the high street for a few years yet.
Things will settle down. More and more people will read digitally, but they will also read print too. We will all pick and choose depending on circumstance and convenience. It’s a good time to be a reader.
The challenge for both publishers and booksellers is to find their place in the process. Things will never be the same again. The entire industry needs to stop licking its wounds. Find a new way to sell. Reach out to customers. Look forward.
