Bookseller changing outdated name to reflect shifting markets
Milwaukee-based bookseller 800CEO-READ has been growing, despite its robotic and archaic name.
The bulk retailer sells more than 1 million books every year.
But 800-CEO-READ is constantly explaining its name — the company is not just for CEOs, the inventory is more than business books and orders are placed online.
“It was helpful in the ’90s when people were using the phone, and we weren’t e-commerce based,” General Manager Sally Haldorson said.
The 800-CEO-READ name is officially being retired, and the company will start going by Porchlight Book Company on Aug. 19. Since it started in 1984, the company has gone by Schwartz Business Books, Business Literacy Services and Dickens Books.
The company has for many years published a monthly list of business bestsellers. It published a guide to business reading, “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time,” for the first time in 2009. The call for entries in the annual Business Book Awards opens Aug. 26.
The new brand is meant to evoke the Midwestern hospitality of being invited to someone’s porch for a beer and was created with Milwaukee firm Hanson Dodge Creative.
In some ways, the change is long overdue. The company started selling not-so-businessy books years ago.
“Business started to become far more about the people,” Haldorson said.
The company started stocking books from authors like Malcolm Gladwell, Brené Brown and Susan Cain. The majority of sales still come from business books; it’s about 70% business if you define the genre broadly, Haldorson said.
The company thinks this new positioning will help it grow into new markets. Porchlight will begin by expanding its editorial coverage to all genres for reviews. Porchlight also will start publishing another monthly bestseller list for general nonfiction.
The bookseller has managed to grow in an industry disrupted by online sales and Amazon by focusing on experiences and customization.
Porchlight sells books around experiences, with bulk copies of books customized for events with fancy boxes, customized covers, stickers and other signifiers that this copy is special.
“Everybody wants a souvenir takeaway,” Haldorson said. “Everyone wants to extend that moment. It’s like buying a concert T-shirt.”
Its bestseller last year was former first lady Michelle Obama’s “Becoming.” The company was the fulfillment partner for the initial leg of Obama’s book tour.
Porchlight’s biggest client is JP Morgan Chase. It is the ongoing fulfillment partner for the company’s summer reading list and winter book program. It also fulfills orders for the Next Big Idea Club.
The decision to focus on customization came after Amazon overtook the industry with low prices and fast shipping. The company asked itself what it could do that Amazon couldn’t.
“We’re the antithesis of Amazon,” Haldorson said.
The focus has meant growth for the company. It’s still small, with fewer than 20 employees working from its 23,000 square-foot office and warehouse in Walker’s Point. Sales have increased every year since the recession. Haldorson remembers selling about 850,000 books in 2016. The company sold that many so far this year. And there are still five months to go.