Finding your carefully researched niche is important for several reasons. With the likes of Amazon and Barnes and Noble as competition, you have to carve out a very specific small piece of the online bookstore pie and serve it with whipping cream. In other words, your bookstore needs to be a focused niche with something those huge sites miss out on - your special, personalized touch.
The Pros of Owning an Online Bookstore
I have chosen affiliate programs as the basis of my bookstore because I don't have to deal with receiving payments, accepting credit cards, processing orders, storing inventory, taking back orders, shipping, and so on and on.
Going to work in a bricks and mortar store would mean putting together the whole package - dress, hair, makeup - with my own online store, I can do what I want, when I want, looking like I want. to go to work, my store is open 24/7/365 to customers around the world, I never meet cranky people face to face (just sometimes in emails!) and my store is private and always peaceful (no cranky kids!).
Faced with a decision between two ideas for how to run my store, I chose option #1. I can simply fill my site with quality, relevant content pages and encourage visitors to click through to the merchant's website to purchase, or I can use a data feed to create a carbon copy of the original store on my website. My main job is to write unique content and to build my site quickly. It needs to update automatically. Visitors then don't need to leave my website to make their purchases.
The Cons of Owning an Online Bookstore
Of course there are always arguments against shopping online; the cons are that bookstores provide a wonderful customer experience. There are book signings, readings, and the joy of finding a few interesting books, taking them to a comfortable chair, and giving them a good look before deciding whether to purchase. And of course, online sites malfunction more often than stores have to unexpectedly close.
Affiliate marketers need to write content that overcome the obstacles potential customers present: their lack of trust, annoyance with difficulties, and reluctance to make that final click.
If your customer knows exactly what they want, no problem, but if they want to "window shop" the process can be painfully slow as they move from page to page. If they like to "scan and let something pop out at them", they can become frustrated at only being able to view what fits on one page at a time.
When it's time to pull out the plastic, they may question the security of ordering with their card online, wonder if they want to pay high shipping costs, and what happens if they need to return an order?
How I Made My Decision
Most of the cons can be compensated for or avoided by careful choosing of affiliate programs. Few online book companies simply offer books. They also offer reviews, contests, coupons, and ways to participate in what feels like a community.
Website design with care taken to make navigation clear and simple can make browsing and comparison shopping easier, and of course stores with great track records, testimonials, and security in place make all the difference with consumer confidence.
For me, love of my niche combined with love of books convinced me that I'd made a great choice, and success is almost assured as my next love, writing, makes it easy to write book reviews. If this all makes sense to you, then you must might want to try an online bookstore.
You too can start your own online used book sale business. This method of selling books is better than investing in a new bookstore, where your overheads can become very high. In an online used bookstore, all you need is a warehouse to store your used book inventory. There is no need for any storefront or sales staff.
You can make an attractive Internet site for your used bookstore. You can have your book collection listed on the site with the price printed next to it. This is a big advantage over any traditional bookstore, since the customer can access your entire book collection, while sitting at home. The same customer may not have that much time or energy in searching for books at an actual bookstore.
Do not forget to print the sticker price next to your offer price, so that potential customers can see the difference between both the prices. Before starting to sell, you will first have to build your stock of books. You can advertise on the Internet and also check out various bookstores, which may have overstocked on some titles.
You can check sites such as Amazon or Ebay, and even Half, which is an affiliate of Ebay and is selling used books at a fraction of the sticker price. These sites will give you information not only on which books sell, but also the prices at which they are being sold, old and new. This will give you an indication as to what prices to offer, when you are out to purchase and even sell your used books.
Once you have started listing your books on the Internet and their prices, you will start generating sales orders. You will have to tie up with an efficient courier company or your local post office to dispatch the books to your customers. Since you are dealing in used books, you might not have to offer any guarantee on your books, but you should ensure that your books are not damaged or unreadable. All the pages should also be present in the books.
Books are also located by their ISBN number which is a 10 or 13 digit code normally printed in the cover or the back of any book. This helps in searching books faster and should also be displayed on your website.
So, selling used books online is not very easy, since many individuals and bigger companies are now hopping onto it with very low overhead. With your nose up in the market, you can sniff out good deals and make a neat profit. The titles and the condition of your books is what matters the most.
Both Kathryn Beach & Victor Epand are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Kathryn Beach has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, About Web Hosting and Real Estate. Tired of waiting for your first Amazon affiliate check? Learn about what's been called the "world's best bookstore", and also ". Kathryn Beach's top article generates over 3600 views. Bookmark Kathryn Beach to your Favourites.
Victor Epand has sinced written about articles on various topics from Shopping, Trucks and Interest. Victor Epand is an expert consultant about books. When shopping for books, we recommend you shop only at the best bookstores for used books,. Victor Epand's top article generates over 11100000 views. Bookmark Victor Epand to your Favourites.