For some years now, you’ve owned a small specialty bookshop in a college town. You sell some textbooks but mainly cater to a broader customer base. Your store always stocks the latest fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books. Recent numbers show a steep decline in sales, including of books that would normally be considered best sellers. You suspect this is because of the growing popularity of e-books and e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. Some of your friends say it’s time to close up because your market is dying. Is it hopeless, or is there a business strategy that might yet save the store?

There is a hope and there is a business strategy that might yet save the store " book selling strategy relied upon investing in, and trusting, in staff "  

Explanation:

Here is the example story of British indie bookstore owner:

In 2018 the days of the last big retail store in the United States seems to have been numbered. A decade of sales losses, traumatic lay-offs, 150 store closures, six CFOs and a 1 billion-dollar loss on its e-reader from Nook has left the company in the midst of an identity crisis.

In the recent decade, Daunt has emerged as an unexpected salvator for bookstores for large-scale businesses and is now accountable at Barnes&Noble for the rebirth of Waterston, the British retailer of about 300 branches. In a world where Amazon offer unspeakable convenience and costs, large book retailers can prosper only if they behave more like independents. His plan for recovery is based on a simple assumption.

Investment and confidence is the foundation of Daunt's bookselling strategy. "The secret to successful employers is retaining them long-term, building up careers, training them businesses."

The staff at Daunt Books know what makes customers feel like they're in a readers ' culture. They follow those principles: never prescribe more than three books at a time, so that the consumer is not frustrated. Do not just hand out your own preferences when anyone asks for a recommendation. First of all, say, "What was the last good book that you read?"It is more likely to appreciate somebody who enjoys Tana's French mysteries than the next Thomas Pynchon.