Blackwell’s Business in Oxford April 2016

Blackwell’s Background Family Owned Business Trading since New Year’s Day 1879 Based at 50 Broad Street Oxford Academic, Professional and Specialist Bookseller Business in turnaround – loss making for a number of years A small ‘paper’ profit declared in accounts Cutting losses has allowed significant re-investment in the business The long term future of the business will be to managed under an Employee Partnership.

Blackwell’s Background 31 full-time trading shops - Aberdeen to Exeter, Belfast to Canterbury 34 part-time trading ‘Connect’ shops We serve 55 of the UK’s Higher Education Institutions Heffers in Cambridge is part of the Blackwell’s portfolio of shops Blackwell Online Bookshop – trading since 1995 September 2014 we launched Blackwell Learning our own digital textbook platform and established a dedicated digital development team in London Alongside our ‘cash’ sales business we have a very successful ‘corporate’ sales business (sales ratio 5:3)

Blackwell’s Background Our portfolio is very diverse – Wellcome, RBS, Art & Poster, Rare Books Every Blackwell’s Bookshop has a bespoke stockholding predicated on the needs of it’s local market Over 90% of all of the books bought in Blackwell’s are bought locally – only ‘centrally managed promotional’ stock is bought for scale out We have a very small ‘support function’ team. Our belief is that our managers and booksellers should be entrusted to build and develop their own strategies – the job of the ‘centre’ is to coach, support and give them the tools to deliver this.

Blackwell’s Background Our shop managers have won 4 of the last 5 Book Industry Shop Managers of the Year Award – we’re shortlisted again this year. 12% of our cash sales are fiction. 9% are children’s In the past years we have invested in e-procurement solutions for corporate customers – making us an integral part of their workflow As competition for UK and international students has increased, one of the major trends of the past 5 years in University’s has been their funding of textbooks, via smart cards and other technologies both in print and increasingly in digital formats

Blackwell’s Background The Norrington Room (which celebrates it’s 50 th this year) is excavated under the grounds of Trinity College. It is the largest single bookselling room in Europe with 2.5 miles of books….. British Artist Edward Monckton’s last work (a 25 foot fresco) is on public permanent display in Broad Street The most expensive ‘book’ we’ve sold this year cost £60,000 We are the only UK Bookseller who is involved in every bookselling channel. Online / offline / new / secondhand / rare and antiquarian / academic / general / music / print / digital / B2C / B2B / HE / FE / Schools / Corporate / etc etc.

Blackwell’s Local strategy Each manager’s responsibility to build a compelling customer proposition. In Broad Street specifically its about building brand loyalty through Outstanding Service Range – differentiating the offer Showcasing expertise Events Partnerships – University, institutions, business Putting the bookshop at the heart of the local community

Blackwell’s – 50 Broad Street Over 250 events a year author talks book launches conference receptions reading and writers groups signings not including the OLF, Bookfeast, Oxford Alumni Weekend etc David Attenborough, Michael Palin, Boris Johnson, Richard Adams, Philip Pullman, John Lydon, Chris Hadfield, Steven Pinker, Vivienne Westwood, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars…!

Blackwell’s – 50 Broad Street More than just a bookshop - events Creation Theatre

Blackwell’s More than just a bookshop - partners

Blackwell’s Localism vs central support The retail battleground has moved, increasingly fought on logistics Price / speed / availability / a breadth of services The successful retailers will be the ones who marry local, independent thinking, a diverse thought provoking offer and exceptional service with online speed, availability and value both online and in shops 200,000 titles or 12 million – today or the next day? 31 shops or 31 fulfilment centres? We have to take all of the creativity of our people, and get them to fully utilise all of the tools at their disposal to build a truly all encompassing compelling customer proposition.

Digital – Blackwell Learning

Blackwell’s Digital 2012 Fiction – market in flux Kindle – proprietary device Vertical supply chain – customers locked in, competitors locked out Entrants failed – nook, Kobo, Sony Today market stabilised / declining c30% of fiction sales 2015/16 Higher Education Slower to migrate – device led. Now in the digital disruption wave End user not making the buying decision B2B market – new entrants – different competitors Volumes higher, margins lower. Impossible to predict how this will play out….

If you want to contact any of our shops you’ll find the full list at Or contact Thanks for listening