A big question, but let’s get into it: How Can a Bookshop be Successful in Oman?
If you know me at all, then you know that in addition to writing novels about Omani exorcists and the freedom to live our lives, I’m a big fan of SME bookshops.
When I discovered that bookshops in Oman are struggling and tend to close (for example, Lotus unfortunately closed late last year), I decided to do some research into:
- How bookshops in Muscat are doing
- What kind of people they’re hiring
- How satisfied people are with them
- What bookshops should do to hire better, satisfy readers, and make more money
The result is the following research paper, titled:
In this paper, about 60 customers of 3 bookshops here in Oman answered questions about what they expect from bookshops, and about how much that specific bookshop they were visiting satisfies their expectations.
The main results are below:
How Bookshops Are Doing
Guys, indie bookshops in Muscat are struggling. I didn’t examine all bookshops here, of course, but out of the 5 I initially started out with, 2 were about to close, and the 3 others were not profitable at the time. They also weren’t selling a lot of books, didn’t seem to really keep customers engaged lot, and some of them frequently had employees leave.
What Customers Want
So, it turns out people don’t really visit bookshops for the books themselves. This makes sense, as, you know, you can just buy books from Amazon. No, what people seemed to want is the experience behind purchasing the books. Browsing, reading segments, visiting an event, etc. This is addressed by the fantastic 3 C framework by Raffeili , who says we need:
- Community
- Curation
- Convening
If we want an indie bookshop to succeed. It’s also addressed by the incredible Addis, who says that readers love:
- Customization
- Integration
- Participation
In the bookshops which they love.
But in my research, it seemed like the highest scores (out of ten) are as seen below:
Can you imagine? When I saw these results for the first time, I was shocked. But remember, these are the aggregates of around 60 customers in 3 different bookshops. Importantly, there is a really big factor of ‘customer orientation’ in my paper, as well as the other papers I studied.
So
What Should Bookshops do?
I believe that for bookshops to thrive in Muscat, they need to:
- Specialize in some genre: You realistically can’t cater to all tastes, and you have limited space to hold your books. As a customer, I also notice that most bookshops have a shallow selection, meaning that there may be only 3 urban fantasy novels. If I’m an urban fantasy buff, I need more!
- Engage customers physically and on social media: I think it’s important to recognize that you’re offering an experience to people, so events and social media content can really help you
- Start selling additional merch: This is a great way to add different revenue streams. Maybe you can sell posters, or quote t-shirts, or figures.
Conclusion
The research shows that it’s definitely possible for bookshops to succeed. As a writer and customer, I can’t wait to see bookshops in Oman thriving.
To read my full journal article, click here.
What is most important to YOU when you visit a bookshop? Comment below, let’s start a conversation.