But, not being a Netflix user, this news doesn't affect me a whole lot nor can I add anything to the conversation that others have not already said. However, on Friday my wife received a newsletter email from our local book store. Our local bookstore is your typical local bookstore, small, slow moving stock, but it has a warm, rich atmosphere and a cat who lives at the store. But, the staff seem ignorant to the World Wide Web, as my wife once inquired about a book series and it took an excruciatingly long time for them to look it up on their computer. Their web presence is non-existent outside of a Facebook page. And while the store has a lot of good books, it can take them quite a while to turnover their stock.
The email itself started out generic enough, explaining some of the upcoming events and address some comments from customers regarding the loss of the local Borders. While their sad that a larger showroom of books is leaving, their hope that it will mean more business for them.
If the letter had stopped there, I would have deemed it a normal business letter and moved on. However, the letter quickly became awkward as it outlined the challenges the local bookstore is having. I'm not really sure these need to be listed in a newsletter, but rather kept in an internal document in the back office. I'm sure if you think about it for a moment, you can list the challenges bookstores face yourself.
Go ahead.
I'll wait.
Done? Good.
So here's what they listed: Internet, competition with eBooks (as many small stores can't publish eBooks), books being sold in lots of places, such as Walmart and such, and the Local Library.
Firstly, the whole list is much like going to a dinner party where the host and hostess reveal the difficulty they had in throwing the party. I, as the guest (or shopper in this case), don't really care about the difficulty in running the store. Second, many parts of the list come off as whiny, such as when the list claims the library is a competitor for local events and they seem to have an unlimited source of funds to attract events. Or when the list complains about the Internet and how people will shop in the store only to later buy the books from the internet, either from home or online.
Further on in the email, it hints that the business had to make several sacrifices and if business does not improve, further changes will have to be made. The letter then finishes with a Refer a Friend program for the email subscribers in hopes to bring in more clientele. Most of the letter reads as a self-indulgent, whiny prose later, and my desire to stop by the book store vanished. Up until I read the letter, I was planning on stopping by this weekend, yet now, I'll be shopping the Internet.
What the letter should have done is start off by describing the Refer a Friend program while briefly mentioning their hope that while it is sad to see a showroom of books leaving, they hope to see more foot traffic. Then, the letter could transition to discuss some upcoming events, then shift to another announcement, that the store will begin selling books online in an effort to compete more and to provide another avenue to sell their books and rotate stock. While this may mean a bit of a change to the business, it would be good for the shoppers, as new books should arrive more often and with more variety.
In a market where it's common knowledge that all the competitors are hurting and struggling, you can't whine to your customers; you have to take action.
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