March 2nd, 2007
Many booksellers thought that the Biblio train had all but puttered out in 2006. This year, however, there seems to be a growing number of booksellers on various discussion boards and in emails to myself cheering the increasing number of sales at the site.
I’ve always been a strong proponent of the site. I have written numerous times (most recently here) on the myriad aspects to its service that make it the most seller-friendly site on the net.
I took a gander at the site recently a did some consumer lens testing. For me, the most obvious issue is a somewhat clunky layout. The main landing page does a great job focusing your attention on the search box, but everything else on that page is more or less difficult to discern. The pervasive use of bullets on the page does nothing to help clarify the layout and really just look tacky. There is not a lot of symmetry among the 3 columns and the different boxes located within in each.
I really like the search results page and the myriad ways to sort and refine searches on the page. I would like to see the search engine get a little smarter, especially with names. For example, I searched for “Jim Cramer” books and only got 3 results. Why? Well, it seems he pens his books with the less colloquial “James J. Cramer.” Even more frustrating to me was that Jim Cramer IS in some of his book’s citations, just in the title and not the author field (which I used to search).
I love Biblio, don’t get me wrong. I think it provides a ton of value to the independent seller. I am less convinced as to whether or not it provides a strong enough value proposition for consumers. If Biblio does succeed in taking market share, many have asked who it will be taking it from. Most likely, it would be taking customers primarily from Abebooks and Alibris. Even with its impressive inventory growth (now 40 million books), it simply cannot compete with any of the big 3 in terms of newer titles, which really isolates Amazon from any Biblio surge.
January 31st, 2007
Abebooks, Alibris, Amazon, Biblio, and Half all have displayed nearly the same homepage design for some time. All of them follow the same idea of crushing as many boxes and marketing schemes as possible. There isn’t one that you wouldn’t call “busy.”
The trend among new websites and tech-forward is Web 2.0 design. There is a ton of debate surrounding what exactly this means but in general means a simple, centered layout, a good amount of white space, big text, custom icons and 3d effects (sparingly), easy/clear navigation, rounded corners, among other traits.
So, is it time for a change? I am not sure. I tend to think that this type of change would benefit an emerging site like Biblio more than Half. There is a huge market play involved in creating a good Web 2.0 design that includes viral internet marketing. The Web 2.0 embracers are most active in blogging and tech-forward circles (they make them up!).
Apart from that, and more importantly, would customers like it? That is to say would it help to boost sales? I guess that is the ultimate question. I tend to think that customers would enjoy a simpler, clearer format that aligns with the “chic” sites on the internet. However, I am not sure that necessarily equates to more sales.
I’d like to see some of these characteristics embedded into bookselling sites. The homepage for each of these companies are so crowded and stale that it is somewhat discouraging. It is almost like the tough question is not what to put on the homepage, but what else can we fit on the homepage. I am not all that hopeful that we will see significant change this year, but it will be interesting to see how these crucial pages evolve.
January 22nd, 2007
In my mind, if sales were equal, Biblio would be the most preferred place to do business for online booksellers. Close behind would be ZVAB/Choosebooks. These are the two sites that remain most committed to its independent booksellers. That said, both sorely need some help boosting their sales. By the way, if you’re not with ChooseBooks, it is really one of those venues that you can add (especially if you use a third part to manage multiple sites) with little to no extra work.
Choosebooks is currently offering its sellers to opportunity to receive 6 rolls of packing tape and bookmarks to help promote the site. This is great opportunity for the site, sellers, and consumers. Simply login to your sellers account and make the request. I’ve already requested more of each and each time I received the package very quickly.
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