The current issue of Costco’s in-house magazine The Costco Connection features a look at their highly successful book department.
The Costco book buyers call it “The Table” – the two rows of real estate within Costco where the 200 or so hand-picked titles reside. And it is from the success of “The Table” that Costco has become one of the top five booksellers in the country.
Jeff Rogart, HarperCollins vice-president of sales, says of the Costco book team:
“This team knows what they are doing…Despite the limited selection of books [compared to industrial-size bookstores], Costco is consistently one of our top retailers for total sales and frequently ranks number one or number two on individual titles.”
Now I am sure Costco’s book team is filled with people who care very deeply about books but before we anoint them canonical status in the publishing world let’s look at the reality of their model.
Shana Rowers, an assistant book buyer, lets the cat out of the bag:
Our “primary focus has always been on savings…We never lure members in with a handful of short-lived specials. Every book at Costco is sold with savings between 30 to 60 percent off the suggested retail cover price.”
Price-point is the driving force behind their success, period. Costco’s increasing stature in the publishing world is in direct relationship to the declining stature of the independent bookseller. The publishers are as responsible for this as the big box retailers, the chain booksellers and Amazon. Of course the independent booksellers can do a better job of adjusting to the current landscape but, these days, the cards are stacked against them.
Do you think Costco would be one of the top 5 booksellers in the country if they didn’t deeply discount their books?
Thanks to PersonaNonData for the lead.