Business Writing - Trend - Outline

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Trend Assignment – Outline

By: Alexander Petersen and Louie Wu – Comm 390, Section 117
Prof: Carla Furlong
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September, 2011

Company:

“Book Warehouse is a local, independent discount book business with five locations. The company was founded by prominent Western Canadian musicians in 1980 and is a well-known fixture in some of Vancouver’s most interesting neighborhoods. We are pleased to offer our customers thousands of interesting and irresistibly priced titles in a relaxing environment.” - http://www.bookwarehouse.ca/

Trend:

------------------------------------------------- eBooks are becoming more and more popular and sales of eBooks have exploded in recent years. Bookstores that aren’t incorporating eBooks into their business in any way do not, in most cases, survive. While Amazon, Apple and Sony dominate the eBook market, there are many ways that a bookstore can implement this new trend into their business.
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Core Idea – Report Focus

Most of your stores are doing well, but throughout North America, bookstores are going out of business and share prices of the biggest chains are plummeting. In order to stay in business you must implement eBooks into and you should hire my firm to help you do this.

Opening Hook

The proper implementation of eBooks into your business will not only let you survive, but let you benefit from this new trend. Through redoing the store as more than a bookstore, a community can be created, collecting loyal customers that make the store less vulnerable to the same default risk as other bookstores.

Key Message One

The growth of the eBook industry has been dramatic whereas the growth of the print industry has been stagnant. This means that customers of regular books are rapidly switching to eBooks, such as can be seen when looking at eBooks as a percentage of total books sold.

Key Message Two

You do not need to compete with Amazon, Apple or Sony. Instead you should join them and let them sell through you, collecting referral fees.

Key Message Three

Another aspect to reinventing the bookstore is the community that can be created. A café environment will thrive in a bookstore that regularly hosts book signings, book club meetings, as well as other events.

Key Message Four

While revenues form sales of eBooks won’t be great, the revenue will start to come from the events and the café. Tremendous savings will also be realized in terms of; inventory, shipping, handling, administration, utilities and wages.

Takeaway Closing

Ultimately, the various costs of running a bookstore is what is ruining so many of them currently. The integration of eBooks will help cut a large portion of these expenses. Furthermore, a community with loyal customers can be built through the changes to the store. Such a change is the way to run a bookstore in the future. Without any extra value to consumers, very few people will ever enter a bookstore in the future. Lastly, it should be said that the availability of print material in the store is not to be eliminated. Simply think of the concept as the modern mix of bookstore and book club.

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[ 1 ]. http://www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp