I recently returned from a two week vacation in Europe where just about everything seems smaller than it is in America—cars, roads, bathtubs, and stores too. The one “super” store we went into would have filled half a Target in the U.S.
Perhaps the European shop owners are onto something because today Best Buy announced it was going to revamp its strategy when it comes to store size and utilization. It's hard to make money being a showroom for other retailers (like Amazon) and competing with your suppliers (like Apple).
And if it isn't stores that are getting smaller the shelf space in them devoted to books certainly is. Home Depot announced in early March that they are dropping books from their stores and as any Barnes & Noble shopper knows, you can now buy toys and games in their “bookstores”.
That leads me to the word du jour these days: discoverability. As physical spaces get smaller, or even go away, how do we discover all these new eBooks that are being published?
I've recently encountered two businesses that are doing some pioneering work in this regard and thought you might be interested.
The first to mention is Small Demons, launched in the fall of 2011. I was on an eBook panel discussion with founder Valla Vakili in LA where he demonstrated their new ‘discover engine' for books. Using technology and humans they index key data elements in books—think people, places and things—and let readers browse the results to discover books that share common elements.
Another new website for discovery is UK-based JellyBooks. If you like looking for books by viewing book covers this is the site for you. Dozens and dozens fill your screen and when you find one you like download a free sample. (It is not clear how you get your title on their shelf.) As I understand it they will make their money by offering half-price deals a la Groupon. By the way, you must register to see the books.
These are a good start and I'm sure we'll see many more before the end of 2012.
