Memo to UK chains: the rope to hang yourselves is here
Busted mergers. Crappy Christmas sales. Gloom and doom everywhere. No wonder it might suck to be in the bookselling business in Britain, or as the Independent’s Boyd Tonkin puts it, “British chain bookselling – with Waterstone’s as its battered figurehead – now looks suspiciously like a murder victim who has decided to speed up his demise by committing suicide.” Part of the problem, he says, is the attitude towards the internet — and if they don’t shape up, they’ll likely be put aside real soon.
The pessimism is echoed by W’s former head of marketing, Gordon Kerr, who bluntly asks “What is the point of Waterstone’s?” After all, with their 3-for-2 promotions, celebrity authors and non-book items, the chain resembles its former parent owner WH Smith now than when the ownership deal was in place!
Still, Kerr holds out hope that all is not lost: “Waterstone’s needs to be efficient and profitable for all our sakes, but, to stand any chance at all, it must also re-discover its soul, delight readers with the wit and boldness of its promotional programme and advertising campaigns. It must become a bookseller again and not just another retailer or, worse still, a provider of shareholder value.”
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