Online-only children’s bookshop launched

9 January 2013 Books+Publishing

An online-only children’s bookshop has launched in Australia.

The Kids’ Bookshop launched ‘softly’ in November 2012 and made its first sale a few days later, owner Graham Gill told Bookseller+Publisher.

Based in Victoria, the online bookshop is run by Gill, who has a background in IT, and manager Erin Wamala, who has worked as a teacher, teacher-librarian, children’s bookseller, and education and children’s marketing consultant at Penguin Books Australia.

‘After many years of hearing from parents who found it difficult to find the right books for their kids, we felt there was an opportunity for a site that specialised in helping parents with their choices around books and reading’, said Gill. ‘Our aim is to offer a carefully curated selection of titles and to take the hard work out of finding books for children of all ages.’

Gill said customer service is central to the business’ offering. ‘We are aiming for the level of excellent service you would find in an independent or specialist bookshop only from an online store. We will hand sell books over the phone, via email or social media, find unusual books for customers and build relationships with customers so that we can continue to cater for their children’s book needs as they grow up,’ said Gill.

The Kids’ Bookshop website allows customers to search for books according to age, gender, categories, themes, character, format, series and price. It also includes a blog and book reviews.

The Kids’ Bookshop aims to deliver books within Australia in two to five business days. ‘We have shelved the “best of” titles and new releases from our catalogue in our warehouse (spare room!) so that we can turn orders around as quickly as possible. Otherwise, we will order in and send them out as quickly as possible,’ said Gill.

The Kids’ Bookshop offers free shipping for purchases of $50 or more to addresses within Australia, with purchases of under $50 charged a flat fee of $6. Parcels are delivered using Australia Post’s premium eParcel delivery service.

The website currently only sells print books, but Gill said he hopes to offer ebooks ‘down the track’.

Category: Local news