Bookselling This Week profiled several booksellers who are evaluating their customer loyalty programs or designing new ones "that they believe better reflect and promote the unique values their stores offer customers and the reasons that keep readers shopping indie."
"We're constantly asked about discounts," said Carole Horne, general manager of the Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass. "The program lets us have conversations with customers about shopping locally and all the other issues we want to discuss with them."
The "Friends of Greenlight" program at Brooklyn's Greenlight Bookstore has approximately 32,000 customers enrolled. "We deliberately word our customer loyalty program as a gift program because who doesn't like to receive gifts and presents?" said co-owner Rebecca Fitting.
Four-Eyed Frog Books, Gualala, Calif., has a Community Supported Bookstore program, through which "customers deposit $100 to $500 in their store account, from which future purchases are drawn" and other benefits earned, BTW wrote. Owner Joel Crockett said customers "tell us they love the program--not only the ability to come in and say, 'charge it to my account,' but also to give their visitors permission to charge a book at the Frog to their account."
Gemma Buckley, co-owner of Ninth Street Book Shop, Wilmington, Del., said "people are looking for some sign that you're giving. We can't compete with Costco's prices, but we can give you a small credit towards your next purchase, and we can make sure we have the books you need."
"We don't necessarily want a program where a discount is the major benefit," said Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics & Prose, Washington, D.C. "We think that people want to feel a sense of belonging, and [benefits] can be less monetary."
At Brazos Bookstore, Houston, Tex., general manager Jeremy Ellis is rethinking a long-running frequent buyer program: "We need a loyalty program that values other attributes that real loyalty is built around. I don't know what that is yet, but I think that's what will ultimately be successful.... An incentive isn't going to create new customers. If they're loyal to the discount they're probably not your best customer anyway."
