Comment: UK independent bookshops need saving from extinction
The decline of the independent bookshop sector shows no sign of abatement as figures published recently by the UK Booksellers Association highlights.
In the last five years, the number of independent bookshops in the UK has fallen by almost 500. Threatened by Amazon and trends such as digital publishing, independent UK booksellers must act now to avoid extinction and reinvent themselves to create a viable long term future.
Major sponsorship opportunity
Taking a highly innovative approach, Mike Phillips, an ex-Head of Retail at KPMG Business Advisory Services, strongly supported by Professor Cathy Parker of Manchester Metropolitan University and Chris Conway, director of the Book Partnership, has created a viable proposal to save this threatened sector. When asked about her involvement, Professor Parker, who has been studying the decline of the independent retail sector for over 15 years said “This is exactly the sort of mechanism to build a collective and viable response to the competition and serve the changing needs of consumers”.
Amongst many creative strategies, the proposed system will allow bookshop owners to successfully compete against Amazon head to head.
The team is looking for sponsors for two projects, the first, a working up of the processes scheme, and secondly, writing the highly innovative software programme that will seriously dilute Amazon’s market dominance.
Interest is growing in this project and if you would like to get involved, please email MIke Phillips at: mikep@purepagesgroup.com
