New Web Retail Program For Independents

Steven M. Zeitchik |

Dec 13, 1999

News
New Web Retail Program For Independents Steven M. Zeitchik -- 12/13/99 Seekbooks.com, an online bookseller based in Sarasota, Fla., has created a program to assist independent bookstores in building a Web presence. Under Seekbook's auspices, booksellers can visit byobs.com (Build Your Own Bookstore) and set up their own sites, using the Ingram database. Ingram will dropship titles to customers, but packaging will bear Seekbook labels. Seekbooks.com CEO Doug DeGroot touts the absence of a flat fee as an advantage over Booksite and the ABA's upcoming program. Instead, booksellers will pass along a 6% transaction fee to Seekbooks, a slightly higher percentage than what other programs charge, but ultimately a savings over those programs. There's also the matter of database tweaking--DeGroot says that booksellers can make a book available to the Seekbooks network even if it's not listed with Ingram, enabling remote customers to find and buy local titles. "It's so hard for independent bookstores to compete against the big stores," DeGroot said. "What we're doing is helping the store build its Web site and giving the bookstore the benefit of selecting whatever margin they want to operate on," referring to the 5%-25% discount that booksellers can employ. While DeGroot said booksellers will eventually be able to customize their site with local content, some of Seekbooks.com's own content will be mandatory on each site. And the seekbooks.com name will come at the end of each URL (for example, sundance.seekbooks.com), as the Florida startup tries to brand itself as a bookseller at the same time that it provides services to--and collects royalties from--a network of bookselling clients. Seekbooks will handle all costs and back-end functions for booksellers. About 50 stores have signed up, DeGroot said.

News

New Web Retail Program For Independents
Steven M. Zeitchik -- 12/13/99

Seekbooks.com, an online bookseller based in Sarasota, Fla., has created a program to assist independent bookstores in building a Web presence. Under Seekbook's auspices, booksellers can visit byobs.com (Build Your Own Bookstore) and set up their own sites, using the Ingram database. Ingram will dropship titles to customers, but packaging will bear Seekbook labels.

Seekbooks.com CEO Doug DeGroot touts the absence of a flat fee as an advantage over Booksite and the ABA's upcoming program. Instead, booksellers will pass along a 6% transaction fee to Seekbooks, a slightly higher percentage than what other programs charge, but ultimately a savings over those programs. There's also the matter of database tweaking--DeGroot says that booksellers can make a book available to the Seekbooks network even if it's not listed with Ingram, enabling remote customers to find and buy local titles.

"It's so hard for independent bookstores to compete against the big stores," DeGroot said. "What we're doing is helping the store build its Web site and giving the bookstore the benefit of selecting whatever margin they want to operate on," referring to the 5%-25% discount that booksellers can employ.

While DeGroot said booksellers will eventually be able to customize their site with local content, some of Seekbooks.com's own content will be mandatory on each site. And the seekbooks.com name will come at the end of each URL (for example, sundance.seekbooks.com), as the Florida startup tries to brand itself as a bookseller at the same time that it provides services to--and collects royalties from--a network of bookselling clients. Seekbooks will handle all costs and back-end functions for booksellers. About 50 stores have signed up, DeGroot said.

A version of this article appeared in the 12/13/1999 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: