Vedes: book expertise in the toy trade

By Sibylle Dorndorf

Toys in bookshops and books in toy stores – for a long time, each segment has naturally led customers to the other, together delivering solid sales for retailers. It’s just a matter of knowing how to go about this. Vedes, the Nuremberg-based toy retail cooperative, considers books a key product range. It has offered a complete solution – the Vedes bookshop – for members since 2004, and more than 60 Vedes retailers have already successfully integrated this into their stores. The all-inclusive package covers everything from design and setup to a tailored delivery approach. It also includes an automated “new arrivals” service along with a book-centred social media presence updated regularly by Vedes. In-store readings can even be arranged on request. Vedes has set up a 50-square-metre model bookshop in its Nuremberg showroom, where it showcases the concept during three in-house fairs each year. Andrea Tiefel, a trained bookseller and book buyer at Vedes, knows what it takes to integrate this attractive segment with year-round high demand and is happy to share her insights in person and here in our interview.

Interview

Ms Tiefel, how can toy retailers get off to a strong start with books?

Commitment is everything. When you integrate a bookshop into your toy store, it needs to have impact and exude expertise. You can’t take a half-hearted approach. That doesn’t mean you have to immediately fill shelf after shelf with books. It’s better to start small and focused. Concentrate initially on the main target group – children. For them, you’ll want first board books, beautiful read-aloud books, books with sound – which young children particularly love – and early reader books. That’s enough to get started with. Initially, I’d offer books for children aged up to eight or ten. After that, if you want to appeal to more target and age groups and delve deeper into the genre, I’d add books for young adults. Just please don’t display them in the same area – they work better near kidult sections.

How should toy retailers display books?
That’s actually really easy, because they already have everything they need to complement the books and further enhance their appeal. Toy stores are the perfect setting for emotionally engaging displays of children’s books – you can offer the soft toy to go with the book, perhaps the game version as well, and the right creative materials for crafting books, etc. In summer, a paddling pool also draws attention and gives children a place where they can relax and browse. In many cases, a love of reading is actually fostered in toy stores. I never get tired of demonstrating this again and again.

What’s the concept behind the Vedes bookshops?

The Vedes book concept is not some off-the-shelf solution – everything is tailored specifically to the store that it will be integrated into. When a retailer decides to include books in its offering, we take care of the first step. A Vedes member advisor and a shopfitter meet with the retailer and familiarise themselves with the layout of the store. You need to find the right spot for the bookshop – and, very importantly, it should communicate the feel of a book section from the outset.

What does that specifically mean?
It should have beautiful themed tables and a Book of the Month display. Later it might also showcase the bestseller list by a renowned magazine – these books usually sell themselves, even in toy stores. Once this basic structure has been defined and then erected, that’s where I come in. I put together the range, so I also specify the shelves, which are then integrated by the shopfitter. Once that work has been done and the retailer has taken delivery of the books, I lay out the books together with whoever will look after the bookshop going forward. I bring shelf talkers with me, because a book section should be self-explanatory to a certain degree. Customers have to be able to tell at a glance which books are suitable for which age. While we’re putting the books out on the shelves, I can explain a lot of things and give pointers. And then everything is good to go! Besides sharing my expertise with the retailers, I also pass on to them my mantra, which is: Delight your inner child!

About the Author
Sibylle Dorndorf has been covering the toy industry for almost 30 years. Most recently, the journalist was editor-in-chief of the TOYS family of magazines at publisher Göller Verlag in Baden-Baden, Germany. Her passion: companies that reinvent themselves, brands that credibly position themselves, people who have something to say and products with a future.