For all the nerdy and foodie souls, a bookstore with some great coffee and small eats is not less than heaven. From purchasing their favourite books to satiating their hunger, in one go, book cafes are exactly something that can make them happier than ever. The culture of Book café has expanded itself all over the world and is rapidly growing.
When ‘Full Circle’ bookstore and ‘Café Turtle’ began their first ever operations in 1999 in India, customers as well as businessmen, were sceptical towards such an experimental thought of a book café. But, in the recent years, this experimental idea of the book café business has become a rage across the country and aspiring entrepreneurs have identified the potential of this clever business idea. Here are a few tips that can help in expanding book cafés across India.
Merging with book distributors and restaurants
While starting a business where books and food are the pre-eminent factors for the business, tying up with booksellers, publishing houses and restaurants could give beneficiary results in the business. By merging with already-established firms in the field, there could be more exposure in the market and hence the customer base could become stronger. Having multiple book vendors in contact could also help in expanding the business as there should not be any dearth of books if any one of the book vendors isn’t available.
Franchising the brand
Franchising the brand could be more lucrative as it would allow the business to expand without the risk of debt or cost of equity. The franchisee provides all the capital that is required to run the unit, so the franchisor can get benefitted from other’s capital at the same time the expansion of business is also ensured.
Personalized recommendations to long-term customers
In the era when social connectivity is prospering, the market could also be flourished by personalizing with the customers. In a book café, if long-term customers are given personalized gifting, vouchers and coupons for the payment, it could create goodwill of the brand. This could also bring-in recommendations from the existing customers, thereby creating a stronger customer base for the business.
Focusing on a niche
Focusing on a niche could help in differentiating the brand from the other existing brands. For instance, ‘Kunzum Travel Café’ has its defined niche in travel journals, books and other travel related stuff and they excel in their business in comparison with the other book cafés in the market.
Finding a niche could be based on various factors such as location of the store, company’ budget, availability of books and competition in market.Also, it could narrow down the broad range of target audience, hence making the business more specified and adding to the customer base.
Be updated with the bestsellers
Popular trends can do a lot to your business; it could either help establishing the business or could make the business disappear altogether from the market. Popular bestsellers should be given priority while updating your stack of books in the café. Being updated with the bestsellersis the key to success of a book café.
The above-mentioned points can be taken into consideration in order to run a successful bookcafé in India. A book café is one of the most experimental business ideas and it can flourish with a good sense of understanding of the business and strategic planning.
