SUCCESS ‘REAL PAGE TURNER’
them in your hand. Five years ago Mr Croydon brought together a syndicate of investors including JB HiFi chief executive Terry Smart to take over QBD.
QBD’s selling strategy is simple but effective. It shuns trendy high street locations instead opting for major shopping centres with high foot traffic. Strategically located displays of discounted books are located outside every store targeting shoppers who often have no intention of buying a book.
Mr Croydon said that once in the shop the customer with his discounted book could be enticed with higher priced books from the “latest section.”
That selling technique had paid off. Since Mr Croydon took over five years ago, he has added another 30 stores to the QBD network.
QBD is now targeting regional towns which may not have a major bookstore.
There are plans to increased the network to 125 outlets with the company currently opening about six new stores every year.
The company has seen its annual turnover climb 15 per cent to $135m with online sales more than doubling during the height of the pandemic last year.