Spiritual bookshops are still relevant and prospective business owners must know how to carve a niche in spiritual bookshop business.
Nigerians who are known to be spiritual will consumer literature that resonates with their beliefs. Whether it is religious books on different faiths, biography of spiritual leaders in Nigeria and across the globe, books from motivational speakers, Holy Bible, Holy Quran and others faith oriented books are items that are in demand. Many think that the culture of reading is fading away in aspect of hardcopy books but it is not true. Everyone reads. Although many people are too lazy to read, others prefer to read online than reading hard copy.
No matter how advance technology is, it definitely cannot completely take the place of books. even online stores such as amazon, Publishdrive, ibooks, Smashwords. Draft2Digital, Create Space, Kobo etc people still buy paperbacks
According to Mrs Ebunoluuwa Kudeti, the retail business of spiritual bookshops are still in demand despite the advance of technology. She noted that having a christian bookshop for five years has been lucrative as she combines it with other books items, stationery.
Merits
“Spiritual bookshops are still in demand as one just has to know how to innovate and combine it other items that make the shops to be relevant. Faith books sell any day and people still come to my shop to ask for the Holy Quran even when I have sold copies,” says Mrs Kodeti whose spiritual book, Kotak Bookshop is based in Ogba, a suburb of Lagos.
“It is believed that in this part of the world people don’t read, an adage says, ‘if you want to hide a thing from a Nigeria, put it inside a book’ This is because the book may never be opened. There is so much awareness going on regarding book reading. We have some NGO’s in regards to this, such as; Nigeria Reads. I am where I am today because of the time I invested in reading while growing up, I encourage people to invest in this business idea it is very important. Statistics has shown that most of the books sold in the country are mainly educational books,” she stressed.
Sustainability
The business of spiritual bookshops is such as one has to target its customers and know how to leverage in this business.
Sourcing for capital
In Sourcing for capital and to make the shop look appealing, one needs fund to buy books and have to stack it with plenty books. Also you will want to buy different variations to attract different levels of customers. According to a known books shop retailer, from N500,000 (five hundred thousand naira) and above is ideal for a start although you can start from a lower level.
Get a Shop
Establish your shop in a place you can easily be located. To sell Christian books; establish it close to a mega church or where churches are concentrated. Market is another good place to set up your book shop business.
Construct shelves, show glass and counter, it will help you to arrange your books very well, arrange the books in category for easy surfing. When customers come, they will know where to search for the book they need. Show glass make bookshop look attractive and make some people hungry to read. The way you arrange your book shop can make someone buy more than plan.
Profitability
Mrs Kudeti noted that she makes between four thousand and six thousand naira and more at peak period as profits from her spiritual bookshop.
She also advised that any prospective book shoo retailer should know where to get books at cheaper wholesale prices.
