Bookshops thrive on retail boom

Dubai: Despite the advent of the internet, high-tech video and computers, which were thought to have dealt a blow to the public's enthusiasm for books, bookstore operators claim that they have been able to recover lost ground, thanks to the region's retail boom.

After all, the Arab world is home to more than 300 million potential readers according to recent statistics, while the UAE publishing industry itself has been growing at 15-20 per cent annually, and is estimated to be worth Dh8 to Dh10 billion.

Magrudy's, a locally-owned Dubai-based bookstore, recently accentuated the robust growth forecast of the industry when it opened its largest branch in Dubai Festival City.

The new outlet has an area of 30,000 square feet and offers a completely new design in terms of look and navigation around the bookshop.

Although Magrudy's director Isobel Abulhoul describes the company's more than 30-year experience in the business as a "rollercoaster ride at times," she explains that they never run out of growth opportunities, particularly in view of the rapid development experienced by Dubai. She says the company is now training its sights on a spirited regional expansion.

"We have been asked by most mall owners in the region to open a bookshop within their malls," says Abulhoul.

Another industry player, Al Maya Group, which franschises Borders bookstores in the UAE, shows a similar optimism as it witnessed a substantial positive shift in sales in 2007, buoyed by growing interest by individual consumers and the attention the region has gathered from major publishers.

"Not only have we seen an improvement in consumer behaviour, but even for corporations, we see growth in interest from all over the world, with the major publishers participating at the book fairs held every year in the Gulf," said Vivek Bahirwani, Group Director for Al Maya Group.

Record

Bahirwani points out the 2007 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair drew a record number of exhibitors and visitors. More than 420,000 visitors attended the eight-day event, which featured more than 600,000 titles from 406 publishers and 46 countries.

Neil Tunbridge, head of retail at GRMC, believes that while major brands continue to dominate the market, the bookstore sector generally remains "under-represented, especially so in the malls...at a time when Dubai retail sector really needs to broaden its mall-product categories." Books and bookstores is an area that is currently lacking in real depth, he adds, primarily because of a lack of brand experimentation.

"I think we will start to see more mall-based retail bookstores, but the issue here is that they are more likely to be chain conglomerates as opposed to independent owners, and as a result the ubiquitous nature of the large chains and their ability to command lower rents may simply saturate the market," says Tunbridge.

Industry majors say that there is room for new players, especially in the highly dynamic Dubai market. "Healthy competition is always required for us to be constantly vigilant about our services," says Bahirwani

Abulhoul agrees that the market is bound to consolidate, while describing Magrudy's latest venture as a "leap of faith". "I think that retail in Dubai will continue to grow and that the marketplace will become segmented, in the way that London is. People will tend to shop nearer their homes and workplaces, and therefore the increase in the number of [bookshops] in the shopping malls will be justified," Abulhoul said.

Challenges mainly relate to rental costs and consumer trends. "Consumers ultimately drive the sector's growth, as they are the ones that ultimately keep the tills ringing," Tunbridge says, adding that "stores need large addressable catchment areas to maintain high store sales Rentals and staff costs are the two most expensive costs for us," said Abulhoul.

Copyright infringement, logistics, censorship and retail infrastructure remain key issues. Magrudy's sales of music CDs, for instance, have suffered very badly since music has been available to download. Bahirwani takes a defiant view: "Challenges that may hamper growth may be very minimal - unless people stop reading."

How would you compare local enterprises with internationally established names? Do you think the range of availability is good, fair or poor? Where do you buy your books?

Unfortunately, the article reconfirms that UAE Booksellers have no idea about the ground reality of book selling and buying. The reader buys a book because she likes the writer or the content and NOT because it is sold by Magrudy's or Borders.The same book is available at a price MORE than the printed price (in US/UK rates) in UAE when it is available at half the printed price in India - even when purchased at the swankiest book store in New Delhi. (Let us not talk about online prices on Amazon, etc. and the tax-free business in UAE!) Moreover, most book stores in UAE stock only yellowed copies of old books.The article discusses the "real-estate" aspects of book trade whereas the books are now mostly sold on-line.Someone really interested in promoting book business needs to think a selling strategy that combines store selling and online selling to ensure that books are available reasonably quickly at affordable prices. With rampaging inflation, bookstores need stop thinking "real-estate" and start "book-selling".
S. Wadehra
New Delhi,India
Posted: April 05, 2008, 10:33