How to Start Bookshop Business in Nigeria: Everything you need to Know

In this post, I will show you how to open a bookshop or how to start and make money bookshop business in Nigeria. My job here today, however, is to share with you how to make money selling books or doing bookshop business in Nigeria.

Please refer to other sections of this site for information on how to start bookshop business in Nigeria.

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Bookselling – a Business full of competitions

There is more to bookshop business in Nigeria than what feeds the eye. It is not that easy, from a casual look. To succeed in the bookshop business in Nigeria, you need to be aware and also prepare against what is coming.

Competition in the bookshop business in Nigeria world comes from so many directions.

First, is the brick and mortar bookstores also striving to succeed.

These are your direct neighbors within the same vicinity or distant lands.

They also sell books, so you have to strategize how you are going to deal with these people and competitors.

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Aside from these brick and mortar bookshop business in Nigeria operators, you also have a competition coming from retails online who sell both electronic books and print books.

These includes Amazon, Ebay, Apple iBookstre etc. these folks sell their books to the public directly.

But that’s not all, you also have the bestsellers competing with you too. so as an independent seller of books, you need to up-to-date on the latest trends of book marketing, e-readers, online ordering, and devices.

You have to also be abreast of print-on-demand utilities and equipment.

How to Make Money From Bookshop Business in Nigeria.

1. Leverage on the advantages of social media for your bookshop and books marketing.

These social media devices enable you to get closer to your target market and also engage your present customers and clients.

Some of the social media you can use includes Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Skype etc.

You can use them to promote your books to a wider stream of the audience and make more money in the process.

I want to believe that what you want to set up is a retail bookshop business in Nigeria.

Of course, most bookshop business in Nigeria is retail bookshops.

It would not necessarily be so much different from the usual brick-and-mortar bookshop.

However, in addition to an online advertisement and social media engagement.

You need to develop other techniques for success in the bookshop business in Nigeria line.

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2. Setup your bookshop business in Nigeria in a desirable and suitable location.

You know that the most Proximus the location is to high traffic.

Or mobility of people and vehicles, the better for your bookshop business in Nigeria.

Also, the cost of locating a bookshop among these lines is also likely to increase per square foot.

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3. Retail your Books, Extend your Closure Time.

With the way things are today, it is advisable you give out most of your books on retail as buyers are most likely to buy them more this way.

Also, it is more advisable to keep your shop open -even at late hours.

So that customers can easily patronize you at their own convenience.

This could be on the weekends, holidays, late nights etc.

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4. Market a Variety of Books.

There is a book for every season, a book for every occasion, circumstance and time.

As such, to make more money from bookshop business in Nigeria, it is advisable you market a wide collection and selection of books.

These books have to be of varieties, and titles which appeal to a spread of tastes.

Even if these books don’t appeal to you personally.

5. Employ a Crop of Trained Staff.

You need a crop of trained staff to attend to your bookshop. these would be the ones to hand-sell to the customers. as such they must be knowledgeable, smart and alert on the book title and contents.

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6. Keep an Effective Book-Inventory Management

The way your books are arranged inside the bookshop determines whether customers will stay or leave your bookshop at first entrance.

How you arrange your book matters.

For effective sales, always keep your bookshop well arranged, and the books well arranged on the shelf.

In addition, in order to effectively analyze your inventory system, for example, for movement of sales.

You need to incorporate effective software technologies to efficiently manage your bookshop inventory system.

you also need to manage your inventory using store management facilities such as shoplifting.

This is a variant of shrinkage managing inventory.

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7. Engage in Effective Marketing Campaigns

You can drive in more customers by employing  Effective Marketing Campaigns to sell your books. this can be by way of advertising, events and special promotions.

Aside from this, you can engage Book signings in your bookstore, although this technique is more popular or common with popular authors.

You can also engage in demonstrations made by authors of crafts, cookbooks as well as other books that deal with the “How-to” themes.

This method drives in a high crop of customers who come to see the demonstrations and subsequently,  buy the books from you.

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you can also arrange special discussion and storytelling series for children and seniors at which events you offer special discounts for a controlled timeframe within the month.

You may want to engage in Loyalty programs like

“Buy 3 books and get 1 free”. this encourages more people to patronize you

bookshop and want to buy more books from you.

On the social media world, you also have to keep your audience happy by giving them special discounts.

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8. Pricing

It is argued that bookshop needs at least 40% profit gross margin. this translates thus: say a book sells for N2000, it, therefore, means the cost price of the book is N1,200.

In any case, the customer’s expectations is a great indicator of the price of a book.

When it’s too high, it scares off the customer and this results in low sales for the bookshop.

On the other hand, when the price of the book is too low, the sales volume increases.

However, this results in reduced profit margin per book sold. this also affects the bookshop negatively.

So, it is your duty as the storekeeper to moderate the price systems of all books sold in the shop depending on the customers class, taste, bargaining ability and interest.

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Conclusion

Thus far, it has been a discussion on how to make money from bookshop business in Nigeria. necessary steps to enhance this has been highlighted and detailed in the article.

If you need a complete business plan or you want us to help you set up this business, kindly contact us.