Your Unique Selling Proposition
Each bookstore needs a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in order to compete in this competitive marketplace. Your USP is necessary in order to set you apart from other competitors. It can be the difference between completing the sale or another abandoned shopping cart.
It’s a little easier to illustrate using existing brands and their current USPs, you’ll realize that you’re already familiar with the USP as a marketing tactic:
Industry Category: Fast Food Restaurants
In a very real sense, fast food restaurants sell the exact same thing: fast, simple, and convenient food. In order to differentiate themselves, they all develop USPs in order to stay in the consumer’s mind, appeal to their sense of self, and ultimately beat out the other establishments for business.
Burger King - Their USP is their burgers are charbroiled, not fried.MacDonald’s - Their USP is how many burgers they’ve actually sold - therefore they must be good.
Taco Bell - Their USP is they do not have any hamburgers, reinforcing that with their tagline: “Think outside of the bun”.
How to apply to bookselling online
Within the online bookselling industry, we don’t have the opportunity to meet someone face to face in order to seal the deal. Here are some potential USPs that will help you differentiate your business from others:
- Superior customer service
- All hardcovers wrapped in mylar
- Free shipping
- Lowest price
- All new
- Only collectibles
- Within this category you can go even further like, only first editions, pre-1800s, etc
- Genre specific specialization - for example: largest collection of science fiction from Istanbul
You probably already have a USP, as it tied directly into how you like to do business. By promoting it and bringing it to the attention of your customers, you will be able to stand out in the crowd and potentially increase your overall sales.
