Waterstones

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This article is about the British book retailer. For sharpening by stone, see Sharpening stone.
Waterstones
Type Private
Industry Retail
Bookshop
Founded Old Brompton Road, London, 1982
Founder(s) Tim Waterstone
Headquarters Brentford, United Kingdom
Number of locations 296 stores (2011)[1]
Area served UK, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands
Key people James Daunt (MD)
Products Books
Employees 4,500[2]
Parent A&NN Capital Fund Management
Website www.waterstones.com

Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 296 stores[1] and employs around 4,500 staff in the UK and Europe as of January 2012.[2] Established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone, after whom the company was named, the bookseller expanded rapidly until being sold in 1993 to W H Smith.[3] Bought again in 1998 by EMI, Advent International[4] and Waterstone, the company was taken under the umbrella of HMV Group, which merged the Dillons, and in 2006, the Ottakar's brands into the company.[3] Following several poor sets of results for the group, HMV put the chain up for sale and in May 2010, it was announced that A&NN Capital Fund Management, owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, had bought the chain and appointed James Daunt as managing director.[5]

The company has been awarded various industry prizes, including the 'Bookselling Company of the Year' in 2008[6] and a top 10 place in the Which? Consumer Survey twice: in 2009 and in 2011.[7][8] However, Waterstones has been criticised for its selling tactics, in particular undermining the position of independent bookshops via heavy discounting of books.[9]

As well as the Waterstones brand, the company owns the London bookseller Hatchards,[10] and Irish store Hodges Figgis.[10] An average sized Waterstones store merchandises a range of approximately 30,000 individual books,[2] as well as stationery and eBook Readers. The bookseller also has concession agreements with Costa Coffee, Starbucks and Paperchase in certain stores.

Contents

[edit] History and developments

Early versions of store signage were gold in colour

[edit] Formation & W H Smith: 1982–1998

The chain was founded by and named after Tim Waterstone after he was made redundant by W H Smith. Taking the £6000 redundancy payout, he set up his first store in Old Brompton Road, Kensington with the ambition of creating a 'different breed of bookshop', using literary authors in front of store displays and employing highly literate staff.[11] The model proved successful and the chain set about expanding its store portfolio. By 1989 however, W H Smith had taken a controlling stake in the chain as the company had expanded so rapidly that it had become diffficult to manage.[11] W H Smith took over full control in 1993 for £9 million.[12] Under W H Smith, Waterstones pursued international expansion, opening its first US store in Boston in 1991,[4] as well as further domestic expansion – opening its 100th UK store in Reading.[4]

The chain was part of the eventual dismantling of the Net Book Agreement, when in 1991, following a promotion by then rivals Dillons, the company decided to pursue its own discounting promotion on selected titles.[13] By 1997, the agreement had collapsed and been declared illegal.[14]

[edit] HMV Group: 1998–2011

Following an attempt by Tim Waterstone in 1997 to buy the entire W H Smith group,[15] W H Smith sold the Waterstones chain for £300 million to HMV Media plc (now HMV Group) – a joint venture between EMI and Advent International.[4] This included high street brands HMV and rival Dillons, creating an international entertainment retailer. Waterstone was appointed chairman of the group but stood down in 2001, citing "concerns for the way the company was being run".[12] He was replaced by Alan Giles.[16] A year after all Dillons stores were rebranded as Waterstones, with some sold to rival Ottakar's making the brand defunct and the chain had begun pulling out of its US overseas venture.[17]

Waterstones launched the Waterstones Books Quarterly magazine in 2001, containing book reviews and author interviews. In the same year the booksellers' online operation: Waterstones.co.uk was franchised to Amazon.com, citing that the company wanted "to concentrate on its high street and campus stores". The move resulted in the loss of 50 jobs.[18] In 2003, Waterstones announced it was supporting Dyslexia Action as its chosen charity, helping to raise awareness and understanding for dyslexia.[19]

Waterstones' logo until 2010

In 2006 Giles stepped down from his position and was replaced by Gerry Johnson as managing director of Waterstones[20] and Simon Fox as group CEO.[21] In April 2006 following two bids by Permira for the group, Waterstone attempted to buy back the company from HMV for £256 million,[22] but later withdrew his offer specifying the conditions set by HMV were "too punitive" to accept.[23] A strategic review in September saw Waterstones pull out of its franchise agreement with Amazon to re-launch its online business, Waterstones.com, independently.[24] The chain also began to pilot a loyalty programme in South West England and Wales. The scheme was successful, launching nationally as The Waterstones Card across its entire store portfolio.[25]

Waterstones piloted a brand refresh exercise in selected stores, beginning with Manchester's Arndale Centre in 2007.[26] On 19 November 2007, the chain closed its first ever branch on Old Brompton Road.[27] Following a consultation, the company's supply chain was overhauled in 2008 with the implementation of a 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m2) warehouse and distribution centre, located in Burton-upon-Trent. Existing direct-to-store deliveries from suppliers were replaced by the centralised "Book Hub" capable of receiving merchandise and sorting an estimated 70 million books per year. The hub furthermore dealt with book returns with a on-site pulping system. Despite earlier comments that the new system would allow staff more time on the shop floor serving customers, 200 staff were made redundant by the process.[28][29] In September 2008, Waterstones began selling the Sony Reader in an agreement which saw the booksellers' branches and Sony Centre stores stock the reader exclusively for two weeks after its release. Waterstones.com began to supply eBooks in the .epub format.[30] Waterstones moved into second-hand bookselling in November 2009 with a partnership with Alibris setting up an online reselling tool called Waterstones Marketplace, part of Waterstones.com.[31]

A re-branding saw the logo change from Baskerville to FS Alberta Pro until 2012

In January 2010, HMV Group announced that Waterstones like-for-like sales over the Christmas period were down 8.5 per cent on the previous year. This culminated in the resignation of managing director Johnson had with immediate effect.[32] He was replaced by development director Dominic Myers, who was managing director of the British academic bookselling chain Blackwells until 2005.[33] Myers joined HMV in 2006 to oversee the integration of Ottakar's into the chain. In response to the decline in sales, he implemented a three-year plan in which branches will be tailored to their local market alongside"rejuvenation"[34] of the company brand and an increase in range. Alongside these changes, Waterstones implemented new branding in May 2010, developed by agency VentureThree.[35] The company also moved to support the Rainbow Trust, which provides support to children with life threatening and terminal illnesses and their families, in the same year.[36]

After an announcement that profits would be at the lower end of analysts' forecasts due to falling sales resulting in the share price falling by 20%, HMV Group indicated its intention to close 20 Waterstones branches, mainly in towns where the company operates at multiple locations in January 2011.[37][38] These stores, which included two stores in Dublin, Republic of Ireland[39] as well as nine others the UK closed in February,[40] while other branch closures including Milton Keynes Midsummer Place, Dorking, Lancaster University, Harrods, Gateshead and Norwich Arcade were completed by the end of 2011.[41]

[edit] Alexander Mamut & James Daunt: 2011–present

In May 2011 HMV Group announced the sale of Waterstones to A&NN Capital Fund Management, a fund controlled by Russian businessman Alexander Mamut for £53 million.[42] The takeover was welcomed by publishers as "a step forward to re-establishing a proper physical presence", with the anticipation of branch closures helping sales.[43] On 29 June 2011, the sale of Waterstones was completed and approved by the vast majority of shareholders at an emergency general meeting.[5] Mamut appointed James Daunt as managing director[44] and a Board of Directors was announced in October 2011 including Miranda Curtis as Chairman.[45] In September 2011, the bookseller announced that it intended to drop the 3-for-2 deal on books after a decade in place.[46] The offer was replaced with a 'bespoke offer', based on branches choosing their own pricing structures from available discounts.[47]

The company pronounced that it would be reverting to its pre-2010 Baskerville branding in January 2012, following a rebranding exercise a year earlier.[48] This involved the removal of the apostrophe from its name, saying it would be "a more versatile and practical spelling". In the same month, Waterstones confirmed plans to open a Russian language bookshop in its Piccadilly branch, intending to stock 5000 titles with the shop being entirely staffed of Russian-speaking booksellers. [49] The concession, named 'The Russian Bookshop', opened in March 2012. [50]

Following a decision in late-2011 to scrap an e-reading offer in-branch[51], it was announced in May 2012 that Waterstones would be selling the Amazon Kindle across its estate. James Daunt launched the new commercial agreement with Amazon stating that Waterstones would be offering "e-reading services and offer Kindle digital devices" throughout the company's branches and on its website, stating it would "make the Kindle experience better". It was also revealed that the company was planning to roll out Wi-Fi across the estate, as well as coffee shops and new staff training.[52] This announcement was received with surprise across the book industry as it had been suggested that Waterstones was developing a partnership with Barnes & Noble to launch the Nook in the UK, or that the company was developing its own device, but Daunt 'ultimately rejected' other avenues as Waterstones 'would have been out of the market' before their implementation.[53]

[edit] Controversies

In November 2008, Waterstones cancelled a book signing event by poet Patrick Jones at its Cardiff store.[54] Christian Voice had described the book as "obscene and blasphemous" and commented "Just the knowledge that we were on our way has put the fear of God into the opposition."[54] Jones said he was not going to be "beaten down" by religious activists and signed copies for a small group of people in the street, arguing "There shouldn't be censorship of this sort."[54] Waterstones said the event was cancelled "to avoid potential disruption to our store," saying that the safety of its booksellers was its main priority, and pointing out that the book remained on sale throughout its branches.[54]

Waterstones banned internet access to the trade magazine and its website, The Bookseller.com from all stores in October 2009. According to the store intranet, Gerry Johnson claimed this was due to the magazine not being needed to run "daily business activity" at the company and could be "misleading".[55] However, others have suggested that this was due to an article printed by The Bookseller which ran negative publicity on the performance of the new "Book Hub" central distribution centre.[55] Following the departure of Johnson from the business, Waterstones reversed its decision.

Following the decision to remove the apostrophe in the name in January 2012, Waterstones was subject to criticism by members of the public. John Richards, of the Apostrophe Protection Society, said that the change was "just plain wrong" and "grammatically incorrect"[56] while the move sparked outrage on Twitter, involving debate on whether the move was grammatically incorrect or not.[56] James Daunt however stated "Waterstones without an apostrophe is, in a digital world of URLs and email addresses, a more versatile and practical spelling".[57] Linguist David Crystal on his blog added: " ... if Waterstone's wants to become Waterstones, that's up to the firm. It's nothing to do with expressing possession or plurality or anything to do with meaning."[58]

[edit] Takeovers

[edit] Dillons

Acquired in 1995 by the Thorn EMI group, Dillons was the UK's second largest bookseller behind Waterstones and was the bookselling arm of EMI's retail division, which included HMV.[15] Following the demerger of Thorn and EMI in 1996, the retail arm was divested from the EMI portfolio within a year and spun off into the HMV Media Group, an investment venture between EMI Group and Advent International private equity group.[4][59] This venture included HMV, Dillons and Waterstones (the latter bought from W H Smith for £300 million), combining to make an international entertainment retailer of over 500 stores.[15] Following a rebuffed takeover attempt in 1997 of W H Smith,[15] Tim Waterstone became part of the deal and by May 1998, following the £801 million deal completion,[60] became chairman of the group, with CEO Alan Giles retaining overall control.[59]

Public perception of the two brands led to the eventual rebranding of all Dillons stores to the Waterstones brand by 1998.[61]

[edit] Ottakar's

Northallerton High Street branch

In September 2005 HMV Group began attempts to buy rival book chain Ottakar's. This alarmed publishers and authors[62] who hoped the Office of Fair Trading would refer the takeover bid to the Competition Commission who did so on in December. In March 2006, the Competition Commission cleared Waterstones for takeover of the Ottakar's, stating the takeover would "not result in a substantial lessening of competition", and is "not likely to affect book prices, range of titles offered or quality of service." Through extensive research they also found that "contrary to widespread perception, Waterstones, like Ottakar's, operates a book-buying system which mixes central and local input on stock selection."[63]

On 31 May 2006, Waterstones announced that it had successfully negotiated the takeover of Ottakar's. HMV chief executive Alan Giles said: "A combined Waterstones and Ottakar's business will create an exciting, quality bookseller, able to respond better to the increasingly competitive pressures of the retail market." Ottakar's chairman Philip Dunne said: "Over the last year the book market has undergone a significant change with new levels of competition from the supermarkets and online retailers impacting all specialist booksellers and in particular those with insufficient scale to compete on equal terms."[64]

Following the takeover, HMV announced that they would be rebranding every branch of Ottakar's as a Waterstones. In July 2006, a conversion programme was initiated and within four months, every Ottakar's store had been relaunched as a Waterstones with the loss of 100 jobs.[65]

[edit] Books Etc

In August 2008, the now defunct Borders chain agreed to sell eight Books Etc stores to Waterstones for an undisclosed sum. The takeover, which represented 34,000 sq ft of retail space and incurred no staff losses, increased Waterstones' presence within London to nearly 50 stores, 'crucially [in] areas that are not represented by Waterstones bookshops'. The stores, located in Fleet Street, London Wall, Holborn, Wandsworth, Uxbridge, Finchley Road, and Canary Wharf were rebranded and merged into the Waterstones chain by September 2008.[66]

[edit] Awards

Waterstones maintains and supports various literary awards, including the Waterstones Children's Laureate,[67] the Waterstones Children's Book Prize,[68] the Waterstones 11[69] and The Guardian First Book Award.[70] The company has also received various industry and consumer awards.

[edit] British Book Industry Awards

The Bookseller Industry Awards, formerly the Bookseller Retail Awards, are run by the trade magazine The Bookseller.

In 2008, the company "was lauded for the success of its loyalty card, Writer's Year promotion, online growth and its Get Selling bookseller training."[6]

  • Headline Bookselling Company of the Year[6]
  • High Street Retailer of the Year[6]
  • Nielsen Book Marketing Campaign of the Year[6]

In 2009, the company took away awards for High Street retailing and in praise of the Liverpool One branch Manager Ian Critchley, who was "applauded by the judges for his "outstanding" work in launching the new shop"[71]

  • High Street Retailer of the Year[71]
  • Wiley Manager of the Year[71]

In 2010, Bookseller Clare Boothby was recognised for her accomplishments at her branch in Dorking[72]

  • Sue Butterworth Young Bookseller of the Year[72]

In 2011, Waterstones was recognised for its expertise in children's bookselling[73]

  • Usbourne Children's Bookseller of the Year[73]
Interior of Reading Broad Street branch

[edit] Customer Satisfaction

At the beginning of 2008, Waterstones.com was awarded a silver badge for the Best Books Website category at the BT Online Excellence Awards.[74]

In a survey of 96 British chains in January 2009, Waterstones scored 69% for a Which? customer satisfaction survey on "products, price, staff and shopping environment and whether they would recommend the shop to a friend" – placing the chain in joint eight position.[7] In May 2011, another survey commissioned by Which? on customer satisfaction of 100 High Street brands showed that Waterstones had maintained its position in the top 10 shops with a score of 77%, placing it in seventh position.[8]

Waterstones also fared well in an online survey conducted for the consumer show Secret Shopper on Channel 4, hosted by Mary Portas. Out of 101 High Street brands, Waterstones 'emerged as an early frontrunner'[75] and has maintained its top position since.[76]

[edit] Children's Book Prize

Waterstones continued the Ottakar's Children's Book Prize under its own brand and since 2005, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize has attempted "to uncover hidden talent in children's writing" by awarding authors with no more than two previously published books (adult or children's fiction).

Waterstones is also the main sponsor of The Waterstones Children's Laureate, previously sponsored by Ottakar's. The 2011–2013 role sees for the first time the position carry the Waterstones branding, with the company stating it was 'up weighting [its] activity' and 'supporting the role in stores and online in different ways throughout the year and beyond.'[85]

[edit] The Waterstones 11

Set up in 2011, the Waterstones 11 was created to promote debut literary fiction from new authors being published in the year ahead.[86] Books were chosen from a list of 100 submitted by publishers, and were announced in January 2011 with in-store and online support, as well as a media campaign for the final 11.[87] The inaugural 11 included the Orange Prize Winner The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht, Man Booker Prize nominee Pigeon English, by Stephen Kelman and the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award winner When God Was a Rabbit, by Sarah Winman.[86] The latest list was announced in January 2012.[88]

[edit] Locations

London Piccadilly flagship branch
High Street Kensington branch, near the original Old Brompton Road branch

Waterstones has around 300 academic and high street shops in Europe including the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland (including Dublin, Cork and Drogheda), and in the Netherlands and Belgium (including Amsterdam and Brussels). Some branches in the company are located in buildings of architectural and historical interest.

Flagship superstores

Its flagship store on Piccadilly is the largest bookshop in the Waterstones estate. The main academic branch is located on Gower Street, between University College London and the University of London Union. Aside from the flagship store, Waterstones operates a number of large store which are set over multiple floors. Waterstones refer these stores as 'superstores':[2]

  • Piccadilly, London (formerly Simpsons of Piccadilly) – Flagship branch with six floors with over 8 1/2 miles of shelving,[89]
  • Gower Street, London – Academic branch with five floors and 5 miles of shelving[90]
  • Deansgate, Manchester – Three floors, with over 100,000 books in stock.[91]
  • Milsom Street, Bath – Three floors, with over 55,000 books in stock.[92]
  • La Scala Cinema,[93] Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow – Five floors, set in a former cinema[94]
  • Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham – Four floors, with concessions[95]
Large stores

[edit] Gallery

[edit] See also

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Portal icon Books portal

[edit] References

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