On National Bookshop Day, 7 October 2023, BookHub – a bookselling website created by Booksellers Aotearoa NZ and CircleSoft in collaboration with New Zealand’s independent bookstores – will go live.
With BookHub, consumers can buy the book they want online directly from participating NZ independent bookstores in just a few clicks.
Launched with a major marketing and communications campaign, BookHub will increase the visibility of books written by NZ.
BookHub is a world first. It is the only website globally that offers book buyers access to the inventory of independent bookstores nationwide, all in one place.
It will ensure more books are sold within New Zealand from onshore bookstore inventory.
BookHub is an answer to the question all of us in the book trade have been asking for a long time: How do we get more NZ booklovers to support local?
We want to convert readers who currently buy their books online from overseas e-tailers to BookHub. Of the 1,956 adult New Zealanders who responded to an independent survey between 15 and 26 September 2021, 35% said they bought their books on overseas websites (Source: Read NZ Te Pou Muramura’s 2021 National Reading Survey).
There will be more than ONE MILLION unique ISBNs available for purchase on BookHub. Enough books to satisfy most reader tastes. In fulfilling customer expectations, we will build consumer confidence that BookHub is the website of choice when it comes to online book buying.
We particularly want BookHub to be the e-tailer of choice for NZ published books, given the synergies between NZ published books and a NZ bookselling site.
How does BookHub work?
With BookHub, book buyers can search for their favourite titles and authors and immediately see which stores have copies in stock.
- Using the geolocation feature, the user sees which of their nearest bookshops has stock available, by clicking on “sort by closest to me.”
- From there, they have three options:
- adding the book to their cart, where they’re taken to the website of their chosen bookshop,
- opting for a click and collect,
- or visiting their bookshop and purchasing the book
It’s simple, quick, and combines the convenience of online shopping with the satisfaction of shopping locally.
BookHub is not:
- a distributor
- it is not a competitor to our members’ online
BookHub is:
- A way to increase sales of books published in NZ.
- Supporting NZ
- Supporting the NZ
- More sustainable than buying from an overseas e-
- Part of our
- The online browsing and buying website for NZ
Advertising opportunities:
- NZSA, Publishers, literary festivals, book awards’ organisations and industry partners are invited to advertise on BookHub.
- There will be two high profile advertising space options: at the top and halfway down the home page.
- The advertisements will be seen EVERY time by EVERY
- Each advertisement also includes a full width product panel immediately below the ad. So, it is effectively two profiles for the price of one.
The booking calendar will be open from Monday September 18 for forward bookings.
For a rate card and advertising enquiries, contact here:
BookHub’s launch marketing and communications campaign:
The campaign will comprise:
- E-commerce – SEO and Google Merchant positioning
- Social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok content (paid and organic)
- POS resources for National Book Shop Day in association with Booksellers NZ
- Media – news stories and feature interviews sought across high circulating print, radio, web and TV.
The vision for BookHub is:
- to drive more traffic to indie book websites
- to increase the visibility of books published in NZ
- to become the search engine of choice for Kiwi booklovers
- to maximise sales of local inventory
- to provide publishers with space for high profile, affordable advertising
Launching BookHub on National Book Shop Day is an opportunity to draw attention to its collaborative nature; how the site is harnessing the power of passionate, resourceful, smart independent booksellers all over NZ.
