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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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Survey Results: Should Book Fairs Offer a 20% Discount on All Items? - By Michael Stillman Book Fairs: A great tradition under increasing pressure. By Michael Stillman Last month we offered a proposal to jumpstart book fairs, in the doldrums for several years, and included a survey to see whether you liked our idea. That idea was to require that everything displayed at the show be offered for 20% off the most recent online price. The purpose was twofold. Encourage more people to make purchases at the fair, but even more importantly, get more people to attend the fairs. Most fairs have seen lowered traffic and many have been discontinued. In this age of the internet, many collectors never even meet their dealers. But, everyone loves a deal. Here, we thought, is a way to use that time-proven marketing tool to bring collectors back to the fairs. Many of you agreed with us. In fact, a majority did. 61% voted in favor, 39% against. Not surprisingly, collectors were overwhelmingly in favor - 91% favored the discount, 9% opposed (the one librarian who voted was also in favor). Booksellers were not so enthusiastic, but interestingly, their split was much closer than that of collectors - 44% in favor, 56% opposed. Collectors were less likely to comment on the subject than dealers, but among those who did, they argued that books at fairs tend to be expensive, some adding that they go elsewhere, online or at auction, to buy. Wrote one collector, "I often see items at fairs of interest but then purchase for a lower price elsewhere after shopping the internet book sites." Another commented, "Books are worth what someone is willing to pay for them, not whatever dealers wish the price to be. I find most dealers would rather hold onto a book for years, or perhaps forever, rather than sell it for what the market is willing to pay." Another was somewhat cynical whether discounts would work, observing, "'Discounting' a price is meaningless if the prices are already inflated by 20%, right?" Another stated that he/she preferred a straight discount to having to "haggle" over price. Still another collector, though favoring discounts, said, "I would rather see good and rare pieces, especially ephemeral pieces at the moderate range, the sort you don't usually see, but are must haves on the viewing." The prevailing view among dealers who favored the proposal could be summed up by one who commented, "seems nothing else will motivate shoppers and will hopefully bring in more people." Those booksellers who opposed the mandatory discounts had a variety of concerns. Among them, some dealers said they already price low, leaving little room for further discounting. Others noted that many customers won't buy unless given a negotiated deal, but this would leave no margin for negotiations. One issue that frequently arose is that dealers normally give each other a 20% discount, but this practice would have to be discontinued or the discount effectively raised to 40%, untenable for many. Other issues mentioned included creating an image that the books were overpriced to begin with, the cost of participating in fairs may be hard to cover with discounted prices, and some prefer to save their special considerations for regular, repeat customers. Several booksellers stated that they would prefer to see more advertising and marketing of fairs, rather than resorting to discounts to create interest. Among the comments from those dealers who favored discounting were the following. "If you sell online through Abe, Alibris or Amazon you are probably already losing 20-25%. Why not give it to the customer?" "Fabulous idea to promote Fairs. Like it or not, we are all of the 'discount mentality' these days, and the internet is king as far as price goes. Might as well discount up front, create that positive expectation for buyers. A real challenge will be that buyers believe our prices are competitive to begin with. You know, the old 'they just raised the prices to say they have discounted it 20%.'" "Anything that makes them [fairs] more successful has to be worth a try!" "Yes, but not by 20 per cent. Acquisition costs are rising exponentially at the same time that retail prices are dropping. I regularly offer ten." "My teenagers have also caught the collecting bug, and would love to be able to afford more special books."
Survey Results: Should Book Fairs Offer a 20% Discount on All Items? - By Michael Stillman Comments from dealers who opposed a mandatory discount at books fairs included these. "I price the same at a show as online. My customers enjoy being able to examine the books as opposed to internet purchases. I don't think cheapening prices will attract new collectors. We need to promote interest in book collecting for reasons other than price." "I don't need anyone encouraging my customers to demand discounts. They do just fine on their own." "I understand the point, but it has not been clearly thought out. What about dealer-to-dealer sales at shows, typically discounted 20%? Let book dealers run their own businesses, and promoters theirs." "Discounting prices tends to give the feeling of a fire sale, like the material isn't worth what it is priced at. The better option is to spend REAL time and marketing dollars finding the newer buyers and getting them to shows. This is something that no promoters seem to be doing well - even though the market for book buying is larger than ever." "You would find that the collector will want to negotiate a further discount - otherwise the buzz element from using one's bartering/negotiating skills is absent and there's no 'crack' any more." "Prices at a book fair reflect the hours of work and expense of doing a book fair." "As a matter almost all booksellers at almost all fairs will discount if asked. Of course knowing they will be often asked, they build in the discount in the asking price. It works. The customers are happy because they think they are getting a deal. And, the dealer makes the sale, getting the price they wanted in the first place." "I do not offer discounts but display pure favouritism when it comes to offering rare and unique material to established clients. So if someone wants to receive offers from me, they have to buy at full price first and not haggle." "The small number of books I have online have already been discounted in order to be the best copy at the lowest price." "Markup is usually less than 50% of the purchase price. Discounting every book 20% would seriously reduce any profit we would realize." "It wouldn't work for me. 20% across-the-board-discounts on my already low internet prices? No way. Those dealers who regularly price high and who have established high-end clientele that typically don't comparison shop could do it. But their prices would still be higher than my regular online prices, even after they discounted by 20%. Better local area promotion & advertising is the way to go."
Survey Results: Should Book Fairs Offer a 20% Discount on All Items? - By Michael Stillman "Let's keep this simple. There is no such thing as a 'discounted price'. There is simply 'the price.'" As we can see, there are problems with the idea. Offering a 20% discount may be difficult for a low-price seller. The cost of book fairs needs to be covered, and some buyers may demand a deal on top of the 20% discount. Some dealers feel it "cheapens" what they offer, or interferes with discounts they offer for multiple purchases or regular customers. Even those in favor of the proposal were stumped by how to deal with the dealer-to-dealer 20% on top of a 20% show discount. However, while there are problems with implementing such a proposal, all problems pale next to that of being a dealer with insufficient sales, or a show with inadequate traffic. These aren't issues of implementation, but issues of survival. First issues first. Everyone loves a bargain. Time and again, discounts have proven to be the best marketing strategy ever devised. However, we need to remember there are two elements to a bargain - real value and perceived value. Low prices may not do the trick if customers don't realize they are low. On the other hand, phony bargains - already high prices jacked up another 20% to create a 20% "discount" - will quickly be seen through by buyers. Customers must both believe they are getting good deal and get one. Provide both and they are much more likely to buy. That said, we will offer a few alternatives to the everything discounted 20% scenario for those who can't fit that model. How about a series of discount book fairs - not all fairs, just an occasional one, like a once-a-year sale in each area? Booksellers could leave items they are unwilling to discount at home, though hopefully they would still bring most of their better material. It could be a "20% and up" or "20-70% sale" for even greater impact, and more help moving the slowest inventory. Alternatively, regular fairs could promote sale items, perhaps guaranteeing that some percentage of each bookseller's inventory will be sold for 20% or more off, or promising that each dealer will have a discount table. That way, sellers could still show material they are unwilling to discount while gaining the benefits of having a sale. Of course, dealers would have to offer more than the dregs of their inventory at discount or customers will quickly feel deceived by the process. These are tough times for booksellers and book fairs. Sales and discounts are the greatest marketing strategy ever invented. There should be some way of using this great marketing tool to help sellers and fairs do more business.

Survey Results: Should Book Fairs Offer a 20% Discount on All Items?

- By Michael Stillman

Book Fairs: A great tradition under increasing pressure.

By Michael Stillman

Last month we offered a proposal to jumpstart book fairs, in the doldrums for several years, and included a survey to see whether you liked our idea. That idea was to require that everything displayed at the show be offered for 20% off the most recent online price. The purpose was twofold. Encourage more people to make purchases at the fair, but even more importantly, get more people to attend the fairs. Most fairs have seen lowered traffic and many have been discontinued. In this age of the internet, many collectors never even meet their dealers. But, everyone loves a deal. Here, we thought, is a way to use that time-proven marketing tool to bring collectors back to the fairs.

Many of you agreed with us. In fact, a majority did. 61% voted in favor, 39% against. Not surprisingly, collectors were overwhelmingly in favor - 91% favored the discount, 9% opposed (the one librarian who voted was also in favor). Booksellers were not so enthusiastic, but interestingly, their split was much closer than that of collectors - 44% in favor, 56% opposed.

Collectors were less likely to comment on the subject than dealers, but among those who did, they argued that books at fairs tend to be expensive, some adding that they go elsewhere, online or at auction, to buy. Wrote one collector, "I often see items at fairs of interest but then purchase for a lower price elsewhere after shopping the internet book sites." Another commented, "Books are worth what someone is willing to pay for them, not whatever dealers wish the price to be. I find most dealers would rather hold onto a book for years, or perhaps forever, rather than sell it for what the market is willing to pay." Another was somewhat cynical whether discounts would work, observing, "'Discounting' a price is meaningless if the prices are already inflated by 20%, right?" Another stated that he/she preferred a straight discount to having to "haggle" over price. Still another collector, though favoring discounts, said, "I would rather see good and rare pieces, especially ephemeral pieces at the moderate range, the sort you don't usually see, but are must haves on the viewing."

The prevailing view among dealers who favored the proposal could be summed up by one who commented, "seems nothing else will motivate shoppers and will hopefully bring in more people." Those booksellers who opposed the mandatory discounts had a variety of concerns. Among them, some dealers said they already price low, leaving little room for further discounting. Others noted that many customers won't buy unless given a negotiated deal, but this would leave no margin for negotiations. One issue that frequently arose is that dealers normally give each other a 20% discount, but this practice would have to be discontinued or the discount effectively raised to 40%, untenable for many. Other issues mentioned included creating an image that the books were overpriced to begin with, the cost of participating in fairs may be hard to cover with discounted prices, and some prefer to save their special considerations for regular, repeat customers. Several booksellers stated that they would prefer to see more advertising and marketing of fairs, rather than resorting to discounts to create interest.

Among the comments from those dealers who favored discounting were the following.

"If you sell online through Abe, Alibris or Amazon you are probably already losing 20-25%. Why not give it to the customer?"

"Fabulous idea to promote Fairs. Like it or not, we are all of the 'discount mentality' these days, and the internet is king as far as price goes. Might as well discount up front, create that positive expectation for buyers. A real challenge will be that buyers believe our prices are competitive to begin with. You know, the old 'they just raised the prices to say they have discounted it 20%.'"

"Anything that makes them [fairs] more successful has to be worth a try!"

"Yes, but not by 20 per cent. Acquisition costs are rising exponentially at the same time that retail prices are dropping. I regularly offer ten."

"My teenagers have also caught the collecting bug, and would love to be able to afford more special books."

Survey Results: Should Book Fairs Offer a 20% Discount on All Items?

- By Michael Stillman

Comments from dealers who opposed a mandatory discount at books fairs included these.

"I price the same at a show as online. My customers enjoy being able to examine the books as opposed to internet purchases. I don't think cheapening prices will attract new collectors. We need to promote interest in book collecting for reasons other than price."

"I don't need anyone encouraging my customers to demand discounts. They do just fine on their own."

"I understand the point, but it has not been clearly thought out. What about dealer-to-dealer sales at shows, typically discounted 20%? Let book dealers run their own businesses, and promoters theirs."

"Discounting prices tends to give the feeling of a fire sale, like the material isn't worth what it is priced at. The better option is to spend REAL time and marketing dollars finding the newer buyers and getting them to shows. This is something that no promoters seem to be doing well - even though the market for book buying is larger than ever."

"You would find that the collector will want to negotiate a further discount - otherwise the buzz element from using one's bartering/negotiating skills is absent and there's no 'crack' any more."

"Prices at a book fair reflect the hours of work and expense of doing a book fair."

"As a matter almost all booksellers at almost all fairs will discount if asked. Of course knowing they will be often asked, they build in the discount in the asking price. It works. The customers are happy because they think they are getting a deal. And, the dealer makes the sale, getting the price they wanted in the first place."

"I do not offer discounts but display pure favouritism when it comes to offering rare and unique material to established clients. So if someone wants to receive offers from me, they have to buy at full price first and not haggle."

"The small number of books I have online have already been discounted in order to be the best copy at the lowest price."

"Markup is usually less than 50% of the purchase price. Discounting every book 20% would seriously reduce any profit we would realize."

"It wouldn't work for me. 20% across-the-board-discounts on my already low internet prices? No way. Those dealers who regularly price high and who have established high-end clientele that typically don't comparison shop could do it. But their prices would still be higher than my regular online prices, even after they discounted by 20%. Better local area promotion & advertising is the way to go."

Survey Results: Should Book Fairs Offer a 20% Discount on All Items?

- By Michael Stillman

"Let's keep this simple. There is no such thing as a 'discounted price'. There is simply 'the price.'"

As we can see, there are problems with the idea. Offering a 20% discount may be difficult for a low-price seller. The cost of book fairs needs to be covered, and some buyers may demand a deal on top of the 20% discount. Some dealers feel it "cheapens" what they offer, or interferes with discounts they offer for multiple purchases or regular customers. Even those in favor of the proposal were stumped by how to deal with the dealer-to-dealer 20% on top of a 20% show discount. However, while there are problems with implementing such a proposal, all problems pale next to that of being a dealer with insufficient sales, or a show with inadequate traffic. These aren't issues of implementation, but issues of survival. First issues first.

Everyone loves a bargain. Time and again, discounts have proven to be the best marketing strategy ever devised. However, we need to remember there are two elements to a bargain - real value and perceived value. Low prices may not do the trick if customers don't realize they are low. On the other hand, phony bargains - already high prices jacked up another 20% to create a 20% "discount" - will quickly be seen through by buyers. Customers must both believe they are getting good deal and get one. Provide both and they are much more likely to buy.

That said, we will offer a few alternatives to the everything discounted 20% scenario for those who can't fit that model. How about a series of discount book fairs - not all fairs, just an occasional one, like a once-a-year sale in each area? Booksellers could leave items they are unwilling to discount at home, though hopefully they would still bring most of their better material. It could be a "20% and up" or "20-70% sale" for even greater impact, and more help moving the slowest inventory. Alternatively, regular fairs could promote sale items, perhaps guaranteeing that some percentage of each bookseller's inventory will be sold for 20% or more off, or promising that each dealer will have a discount table. That way, sellers could still show material they are unwilling to discount while gaining the benefits of having a sale. Of course, dealers would have to offer more than the dregs of their inventory at discount or customers will quickly feel deceived by the process.

These are tough times for booksellers and book fairs. Sales and discounts are the greatest marketing strategy ever invented. There should be some way of using this great marketing tool to help sellers and fairs do more business.