SPONSOR


DESCRIPTION Simon & Schuster UK is one of the leading general book publishing companies in the UK. The group is based in London with sister companies in the US, Canada, Australia and India. Within the UK division, 


BOOK RETAILER OF THE YEAR


OVERVIEW This shortlist of three online platforms, one mixed retailer and the household bookselling  and Waterstones— now, of course, together under the ownership of Elliott Advisors—shows the hybrid shape of book retail as we emerge from Covid. Their teams all coped admirably with the immense disruption of 2021, and must now feel ready to tackle the challenges that lie in store.


A GREAT READ A Great Read was a new name to some when it appeared on this shortlist for the first time last year. Te family-owned, Wiltshire-based retailer is now a force in online sales, both through its own website and through other online platforms, including Amazon and eBay. It finds crea- tive ways to mimic aspects of independent bookselling online, such as personalised service, staff recommendations and lively social media, in order to make its offer more attractive to consumers. And, in 2021, it paid off.


BLACKWELL’S Blackwell’s last won this award in 2018 and is shortlisted now after its final full year under family ownership, following its recent acquisition by Waterstones. Blackwell’s again fused enduring strengths, like exceptional service and hand-selling, with newer skills in e-commerce and BookTok marketing. B2B sales were strong, and live events were back with a bang in the second half of the year. “I can’t imagine British bookselling without Blackwell’s,” read one leading author’s testimonial.


BOOKSHOP.ORG This online retailer was bookselling’s high- est-profile success story in 2021. Its launch was perfectly timed for people wanting to support independent bookshops, and by the end of the year it had generated £2m for UK indies. Through book lists, online events and author support, Bookshop.org grasped how to take the special feel of individual shops online. It’s been socially aware from the start too, with a New Futures scheme nurturing bookshops from underrepresented groups, and won FutureBook Start-up of the Year.


WATERSTONES Britain’s biggest books specialist has won this award in three of the past seven years, and its confident return from lockdown was a huge relief to publishers and authors. Online sales growth was sustained, and it coped well with both supply challenges and Omicron’s threat to Christmas sales. Activity on Kazuo Ishiguro, Paul McCartney and Sally Rooney showed it can still “own” big publishing occasions, and investment in shops and new openings (including with retailer Next) reaffirmed its ambition.


23


W H SMITH W H Smith provided much-needed opportunities for high street bookselling during the first few months of 2021. It was particularly valuable in supplying books for children stuck at home during lockdowns, whom it also supported by redeeming a quarter of a million World Book Day tokens and steering book dona- tions with the National Literacy Trust, Macmillan Children’s Books and Marcus Rashford. On the adult side, it powered sales of books by its Author of the Year, Matt Haig.


ON THE NIGHT


THE INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP AND  BOOKSELLER WINNERS WILL ALSO BE ADDED TO THIS SHORTLIST


BOOKS2DOOR Leicestershire-based retailer Books2Door is shortlisted for this award for the first time in its 17-year history. The value-led children’s retailer had a best-ever year, led by m.d. Abdul Thadha above, doubling sales from pre-Covid levels as it embraced lockdowns and met the heavy demand for home learning resources. Strategic investment in marketing—which it focused squarely on social media and search ads—paid off in customer acquisition. Innovations in the past year included a new Instagram Lives-based book club.


WATERSTONES


MADE A SPLASH FOR THE LAUNCH OF


SALLY ROONEYS LATEST


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56