Bookshop.org launches in the UK

In the UK, Bookshop.org, a retail site for independent booksellers, has launched to the trade ahead of its planned opening to consumers in November, reports the Bookseller.

UK bookshops can create their own online shop profiles for the site, earning 30% of the cover price on any sales that come via their links, book lists or shop page. Packaging and distribution will be managed by Gardners, who will deliver books direct to customers, while Bookshop.org takes care of customer service.

Bookshop.org will also pay 10% to media sites and other platforms for linking through to its website. Another 10% from regular sales goes into a payment pool distributed twice a year to independent bookshops who have opted in to the platform.

The Bookshop.org UK operation will be run by managing director Nicole Vanderbilt, previously international vice president for Etsy, while former Foyles head of buying Jasper Sutcliffe has been appointed publisher and former independent bookshop owner Mark Thornton has been appointed bookshop partnership manager.

Bookshop.org founder Andy Hunter launched the site in the US earlier this year to counter Amazon’s huge share of online sales and the number of sites that link through to it. The US website has around 900 retailers signed up and is expecting sales of US$50 million (A$69m) in 2020—10 times over what was initially estimated for the platform’s first year of operation.

In May this year Australian Bookseller’s Association CEO Robbie Egan told Books+Publishing that he’d ‘love to bring that model here‘ but cited factors including development costs, the size of Australia’s overall publishing market and the lack of a centralised book distributor as potential barriers.

Category: International news