Rare Book Monthly
ABE -- To The Summit And Back
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Today, Abe is a business, its original, bookish owners replaced by a corporation. Like Wal-Mart, it tries to maintain a veneer of personal, neighborly relationships. Wal-Mart will sponsor local charities, and they will tell us in their advertisements how involved they are with our communities, but we know that underneath, beats an efficient, businesslike heart. Abe may not quite be Wal-Mart, but it is no longer the neighborhood general store either. It is in transition. It is becoming more like Wal-Mart, and it is doing so because business realities tell them it must to survive. Abe does not want to follow the path of your neighborhood grocer, druggist, department store, or all of the others who offered personal service when the market wanted price, convenience, and sameness. Still, for those who like the old ways, the change from friend and partner to a business relationship is painful. They feel hurt, let down, disappointed. They are angered by the perceived lack of appreciation. It's like the owner of the old Main Street shop watching his neighbors and friends pouring through the doors of the new Wal-Mart. It hurts.
So what does an Abe do, caught between the rock of business reality and the hard place of hurt dealer feelings? The answer, quite simply, is to make their site more effective for their dealers. Find ways to sell more of their books. Use some of their increased income to increase the dealers' income too.
Of course, a bit more diplomacy along the way wouldn't hurt. The dealers went to the summit thinking Abe's intention was to gather their input, but the reality was that it was primarily to announce already formulated plans. Another suggestion is not to try to disguise reality. The mandatory credit card processing was couched in terms of fraud protection and consistent performance for customers. These were undoubtedly factors, but dealers immediately understood that it is not necessary to charge 5 1/2% unless credit card processing is intended to be a profit center.
Nevertheless, for all of the hurt feelings, this is a business for the booksellers just as much as it is for Abe. I know there are some for whom it is a passion, a love more than a business. However, for most, the first concern is paying the bills, just as it is for Abe. If the dealers find a more profitable selling venue, they will move en masse, loyalty considerations to Abe notwithstanding. So, if Abe is to successfully wind its way through this difficult transition, it needs to help the dealers sell more. Ultimately, each side needs to increase its profits by making more sales, not by stealing margin from each other. Abe hinted at investing more in advertising and promotion, and if they do this, and it, in turn, generates more sales, they will quickly erase the hard feelings.
So, we will offer a little unsolicited advice to both sides. First, to the dealers. Abe is a business. You should not expect anything else, nor should Abe feel guilty for behaving like one. It will act in a way that it believes best suited to maximizing its profits. Its choices may be wrong. Raising prices may hurt its long-term profits rather than help them. We don't know. Nevertheless, Abe has a right to make those choices. It has every right to maximize its profits, and it has the right to decide the strategy it uses in an attempt to attain that goal. It's nothing personal.
