Price label suggestions for used books?

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 09:00:33 +0100, michael adams wrote:


"Mark Healey" wrote in message
news
Scaling really isn't an issue. It's just a sequence. You can scale your
sections any way you want. The benefit is that it gives you a unique
identifier for each book you have (provided you add a suffix for
multiple copies) and a specific place for it. This solves the problem of
where to put books whose subjects are somewhat ambiguous.

...

This assumes all the customers know the classifications of any books
they're looking for, and can automatically go to the right shelves.
Otherwise, in your terms they're no better off than they were before
are they ?

So that in addition to spending time looking up every single book
on the LOC catalogue, to assign to it its LOC classification on acquisition,

You use the EAN a barcode reader and the computer to do that. It would
also save you a lot of time typing.

you're also going to have to provide staff to tell customers the LOC
classification of any books they're looking for, which they don't already
know.

The numbers correspond to categories that have names. You put up signs
just like you have to do anyway.

Assuming that is, that you're going to be doing a lot of business in
these "ambiguous" books, the very existence of which is the whole purpose
of the exercise. This also assumes that the customers know the
exact and correct title and author of the book they're looking for -
a rather large assumption to be making I'd suggest.

Again, the computer is your friend. When it is all in a database you
could look it up with what information they have.

The purpose of this exercise presumably is to get customers in and
out of your secondhand bookshop as quickly as possible - and to have
as few people as possible hanging around browsing and buying books on
impulse*.

This is to make sure that the books are findable. It would not drive
people out, nor interfere with browsing.

Furthermore by their very nature, all library classification systems
are linear. They start at point A and follow a linear path which ends
at point B with no intermediate cross connections. And so a book in a
related area which may be of interest to a browser, may be shelved on
the other side of the shop. This applies especially to areas where
technology

Here is what I got for the ISBN 031692904:

LC Control Number: 99032831
Type of Material: Text (Book, Microform, Electronic, etc.)
Personal Name: Weiss, Michael J., 1952-
Main Title: The clustered world : how we live, what we buy, and what it all means about who we are / Michael J. Weiss.
Edition Information: 1st ed.
Published/Created: Boston : Little, Brown, c2000.
Description: viii, 323 p. : col. ill. ; 25 cm.
ISBN: 0316929204
Subjects: Consumers' preferences--United States.
Postal zones--Social aspects--United States.
Social surveys--United States.
United States--Social conditions--1980-
United States--Social life and customs--1971-
LC Classification: HN59.2 .W449 2000
Dewey Class No.: 306/.0973 21
Geog. Area Code: n-us---
Quality Code: pcc

Having this in the database is really handy.

and other areas, aesthetics etc combine. Architecture - printing -
typography - computers etc etc. Following strict LOC classifications could
put books covering different aspects of the same subject area at opposite
ends of the shop.

Actually the LOC system is pretty good damn about not doing that.
They tried to map a tree structure to a line, hence the Subject,
subsubject ... that I mentioned. You're right, It's far from perfect for
the reasons you've stated. Whoever comes up with a good scheme for
organizing cookbooks deserves the Nobel Prize.



Something you'd imagine would be unlikely to appeal
to a specialist bookseller who knew of everything of note which had been
published in his own particular subject area, and recognized the likely
requirements of his customers.

Those guys don't have walk-in stores anymore.

* Rather it would seem, you would prefer them standing at your counter
for hours on end, while the two of you go through all the possible
variations of the title of the book, the title that they can't quite
remember, in the LOC catalogue. Only to discover after 10 minutes of
searching,
that the book is going to cost them rather more than they were thinking of
paying.

And this is supposed to be better than telling them that "The subject is
over there but it's sorted by author and you will have to go through all
21 shelves in that sections since you don't know the author.". What
happens is that they say that they get the author from the person who
recommended it and come back. Maybe 10% actually do.

"Sorry I'll have to try the library instead. And what did you say
the exact title was, again?"
And unlike many Libraries, where for reasons of efficiency browsing is
discouraged and only the staff may have access to the bookstacks.

I've only seen this applied to rare or delicate books. Just like
bookstores.

--
Mark Healey
marknews(at)healeyonline(dot)com

On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 21:16:09 +0100, michael adams wrote:


"Mark Healey" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 09:00:33 +0100, michael adams wrote:


"Mark Healey" wrote in message
news

The purpose of this exercise presumably is to get customers in and
out of your secondhand bookshop as quickly as possible - and to have
as few people as possible hanging around browsing and buying books on
impulse*.

This is to make sure that the books are findable. It would not drive
people out, nor interfere with browsing.

...

But I'd imagine people who are told straightawy that the particulr
book they're looking for isn't in stock, are more likely to walk out
of the shop straightaway and not look for an alternative in the shelves.
They've already commited themselves to looking for a particular
title. Whereas if they looked on the shelves first they might choose
an alternative without seming to lose face. Dunno.

That's the "manipulate the customers attention through inefficiencies and
bad customer service school". It is successful in many stores (Ikea comes
to mind) but I only shop them as a last resort. It reflects a whole third
world "customer as prey" attitude that I don't like.


Furthermore by their very nature, all library classification systems
are linear. They start at point A and follow a linear path which ends
at point B with no intermediate cross connections. And so a book in a
related area which may be of interest to a browser, may be shelved on
the other side of the shop. This applies especially to areas where
technology

Here is what I got for the ISBN 031692904:

[boring data snipped]

Having this in the database is really handy.

...

Do you mean you consulted this actual book in formulating your
plans, or that having such information on the database would help
you sell that particular book ?

It's one I had handy when composing the post. Having the information
would help sell it. If someone just came in with an author and title
(Weiss, Clustered World) Who would know what section to direct them to
(SciFi? Sex? Natural History?...).


Its a classic topological puzzle or something like that. The best
arrangement would probably be shelves in the form of spokes of a wheel
with a circular space in the middle. Or having extrememly high shelves
with some sort of lift arrangement. Totally impractical in other words.

The best arrangement would be a manifold of infinite spacial dimensions,
Where every book could occupy a unique point.


Something you'd imagine would be unlikely to appeal
to a specialist bookseller who knew of everything of note which had been
published in his own particular subject area, and recognized the likely
requirements of his customers.

Those guys don't have walk-in stores anymore.



* Rather it would seem, you would prefer them standing at your counter
for hours on end, while the two of you go through all the possible
variations of the title of the book, the title that they can't quite
remember, in the LOC catalogue. Only to discover after 10 minutes of
searching,
that the book is going to cost them rather more than they were thinking
of
paying.

And this is supposed to be better than telling them that "The subject is
over there but it's sorted by author and you will have to go through all
21 shelves in that sections since you don't know the author.".

...

Keep it reasonable to 5 shelves and yes. Because as before, if you
don't have the right book in stock they're likely to walk out anyway

I've not found that to be the case. Whether we have what they want or
don't, most people browse anyway.

--
Mark Healey
marknews(at)healeyonline(dot)com

What does everyone feel that a happy medium would be? Am I on the right track?

How about thick black Magic Marker on the DJ cover?

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 11:14:58 +0100, michael adams wrote:


"Mark Healey" wrote in message
news

That's the "manipulate the customers attention through inefficiencies
and bad customer service school". It is successful in many stores
(Ikea comes to mind) but I only shop them as a last resort. It reflects
a whole third world "customer as prey" attitude that I don't like.


No it's very effective marketing. Presenting the customer with your
entire range of products in their full glory. Not in the pages
of a catlaogue.

While a "customer as prey" attitude originated on Madison Avenue in
the 1920's with the arrival of Edward Bernays, I believe.

And it's in no way inefficient.

It's only efficient if you only consider the vendor's time valuable.
Honorable vendors recognize the value of the customers time.

Ikea are only copying the practice in supermarkets. There, all the
staple goods, milk, bread, eggs, sugar are spread out at the four
corners of the store so at make customers walk past as many shelves
of other goods as possible.

The ones I go to all have the refrigerated cases around the periphery
where it is easy to plumb/wire them.

While manufacturers fight wars of
attrition amongst themselves to get their products displayed
on the "best" shelf positions.



Now ISTM that there's slightly less point to that in a supermarket,
where people are going to buy their food anyway - even if they are being
encouraged by the smell of roasted coffee which makes people hungry
so they buy more food - than there is in Ikae where they're trying to
sell hundreds of different lines of furniture and houseware through a
catalogue. Furniture and other stuff people won't even have seen properly,
never mind decided they needed one, until they walked past one in an
Ikea store.

Actually their catalog is pretty well organized. It's their stores that
are a nightmare. It's one zig-zaging path through the while store that
forces you to pass everything to get to what you want and then to to the
register.

That's not customer manipulation. That's effective marketing.
And its only by using effective marketing that vendors such
as Ikea can shift sufficient volume to keep their prices
low.

They keep their prices low by making junk. Which is why their customers
are all twenty-somethings.

It's intersting really. Nobody is forced to shop in Ikea.
And yet many people who shop there are forever complaining
about inefficiency and predatory marketing.

Again, their customers are twenty somethings whose time isn't worth much.

When nothing is stopping them paying double the price and
shopping elsewhere.

Good customer service doesn't double the price. It might add a few
percentage points.

Customers can behave in strange ways and may not seem to be acting
entirely rationally. Except they most often shop on price - as Sam
Walton realised - oblivious to any other other dire social
consequences of their choices.

Which is why I've never been in a Walmart. Of course, long ago I decided
that it is better to go without than to buy junk, whenever possible.

Although customers in secondhand bookstores are probably a breed
apart again.

Oh yea, they certainly are. In many strange, interesting and often
frustrating ways.

--
Mark Healey
marknews(at)healeyonline(dot)com

My wife and I have owned a used book store. I would recommend the
softwear Readerware for inventory and price recall or price
virification at check out. Readerwear can show the books grouped by
Author and can list multiple copies and location(like in the backroom
case 4 shelf 5). For non-ISBN books I make up numbers like
0-0000-025-X and use an alpha suffix for multiple copies. The softwear
works best with a scanner and will take the ISBN and search out the
internet and 'flesh-out' the information on the book. You can generate
an inventory in HTML and put it on your web-site so that people can
look at all your books on line. I would look at removable tape and a
plain paper price tag. the plain paper can be 'cut-outs' from special
punches from PaperDirect.com. Hope this helps.

Having had a bookstore and the wife and I having Master's in Library
and Information Science, Classification systems for libraries is great
but for a bookstore I like to be able to use a database system that I
can searh by any of the fields such as Author, Subject, Title, or even
ISBN or LOC numbers. (Readerware is what we use for our project:
http://www.booksforthenations.org ) Thanks, Perry Cox.