Meet Bookdealer, the e-commerce independent bookstore that will make you forget Amazon

A very viable alternative to Amazon that not only has a potentially unlimited catalog, but also puts independent Italian bookstores to work: this is Bookdealer(www.bookdealer.it), an interesting book e-commerce portal launched at the end of August, the first to actively support independent bookstores. The mechanism is very easy: just search for your title on Bookdealer. It can be the latest best-seller, but it can also be an out-of-print or unobtainable book. You finish the purchase process, making payment, and choose the bookstore from which to receive the book. If the book is in stock, home delivery is immediate and the book will most likely arrive the next day: the bookstore will take care of home delivery. If, on the other hand, the book is not available, the bookseller will take care of the search and notify the delivery time. The amount spent on the book will go directly to the bookstore. We tested the service on a hard-to-find book (it was not even in the catalogs of major online platforms), and it arrived two days after our request.

In addition, Bookdealer gives the possibility to scroll through the list of bookstores and contact them, thus receiving recommendations and suggestions directly from the nearest bookseller (there is also a “Booksellers’ Recommendations” section where suggested books can be found). The advantages for the user are several: a very fast and easy-to-use platform, the possibility of receiving the book at home directly from the bookseller and not from the courier and therefore also with faster timelines and more convenient expenses, as well as the possibility of having direct contact with the bookstore. In addition, the project does not ask for percentages from booksellers: since it is an initiative of a network of bookstores and not of a single company, born from below, each outlet participates in the project without having to recognize fees to anyone. Therefore, the entire cost of the book goes to the bookstore.

“By buying on Bookdealer,” explain the creators, Leonardo Taiuti, publisher of BlackCoffee, Mattia Garavaglia, bookseller at the Golem Bookstore in Turin, Daniele Regi and Massimiliano Innocenti, “you really support independent bookstores because, thanks to the home delivery and courier shipping service, booksellers can keep alive the relationship with their regular customers, reach new ones, and make themselves known outside their local area or in underserved places, where until then the reader had no choice but to buy from the big online stores.” The idea was born during the first lockdown, when bookstores were closed and the only channels for buying books were e-commerce platforms.

Similar projects already existed abroad, but Italy lacked bookstore e-commerce. And to date already more than 400 bookstores have joined Bookdealer, reaching an audience that already has thousands of registered users. And the potential to grow further is very high indeed.

Ph. Credit: Libreria La Volpe Volante, Padua (one of the bookstores joining Bookdealer)

Meet Bookdealer, the e-commerce independent bookstore that will make you forget Amazon

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