Browns grows after "embracing" web’s potential

A BOOKSELLER based in Hull is bucking downward trends in the retail sector after adopting an innovative online strategy.

Browns dates back to 1860 and fetes itself as a model of “retail evolution” having operated in printing and then book sales before embracing online opportunities.
 
The company has found that the internet has supported sales of printed books rather than detrating from them.

Its new website – Browns Books for Students – has extended the company’s range after it took over a specialist school books business in 2006.

Yvette Stafford, managing director of Browns Books for Students, said: “The launch of our new website follows more than a year of extensive consultation and development and significantly increases accessibility.

“We are currently designing our own retail website, which will have an educational reading focus and will allow people to purchase online with their credit card for next-day delivery.”

Yvette added that the fact that it’s now several years since customers were able to walk into Browns, in George Street, and buy a book has only enhanced the business.

Since Yvette’s parents Alan and Jean Little bought the business in 1982 it has expanded through the acquisition in 1986 of Gardners Books in Eastbourne, followed by the move 20 years later to strengthen its services to education.

The result is a business which employs almost 1,000 people, with around 900 in Eastbourne, a small IT department in Warwick and continuing growth in Hull where staff levels are nearly 80 compared with around 25 when the business was a book shop.

Turnover has also increased from around £1.5m as a book shop to the current level of £11m and printed books still account for more than 95% of sales.