Your all-in-one website

A storefront for your customers, a tool for your business.

 
 

Feature Overview

Your Bookmanager Webstore contains all the widgets and functions needed to provide your customers with a full-service e-commerce experience. To name a few:

 
  • Automatic and instantaneous integration with the Bookmanager software.
  • We provide the website hosting and security certificates as part of the webstore cost. All you need is a domain name, and we'll take care of the rest!
  • Take payments online, or offer a pay at pick up option.
  • Enable the Guest Checkout option to allow your customers to reserve stock for pick up in-store without the need to create an account.
  • Your customers choose how they want to be notified when placing an order — by email, text message, or phone call. Texting and emailing can even be automated and done directly from the integrated Bookmanager software.
  • Cover images, book descriptions, author bios, and even interior images are provided by Bookmanager.
  • Sell your Bookmanager gift cards online, and allow customers to check their balance online too.
  • Create and organize your own custom site menus and content without needing a coder or web developer.
  • Not ready to make your webstore live to the public? Go ahead and keep your site private while you design, and place a simple landing page to let your customers know your new webstore is coming soon.
  • Place an event calendar and/or page that automatically updates, and schedule events with ease.
  • Libro.fm audiobooks are fully integrated on your webstore, cost nothing to offer, appear with regular title search results, and you receive commission on audiobooks sold. Take that, Audible!
  • Sell anything — books, gifts, games, stationary, branded store merch, event tickets, you name it! If you sell it, you can list it.
  • Set up which vendors you order from, and their live inventory and stock positions are reflected on your webstore. This allows you customers to place orders for products you do not stock but can get, all without you lifting a finger.
  • Use the webstore to discover and order new and popular titles for your own shelves. Depending on your log in, your webstore transforms from a consumer shop to a tool for your store.
  • Create public or private lists, generate your own PDF catalogues or order forms, and create or import Excel spreadsheets.
  • Send a rep a share request, and they will be able to monitor and comment on orders you make for lines they represent.
  • Your contact and hours page include a section for holidays and special hours — set up your special hours up to a year in advance and keep your customers informed.
  • Host files for you and your customers to access via links you provide and can customize. PDF catalogues or features, videos, order forms, brochures... if it's a file, you can host it and share it.
  • Designed and tested on the three major browser platforms — Firefox, Chrome, and Edge are fully supported for content creation and management. Consumers using Safari, Opera, newer versions of Internet Explorer, and the rest can use your site no problem.
 

Design

A home for your brand

No matter your level of design knowledge, you'll impress your customers with a full featured website that is consistent with your brand.

No design skills needed

You have complete control over the look and feel of your Webstore, from its domain name to its layout, colours and content. Quickly add new menus, enable a landing page, and choose which content to show your customers.

Schedule content

Create features and posts in advance and schedule them to appear and disappear when and where you want.

Create visually

Use our visual editor to add images, text, and title carousels. Organize and create custom menus, lists and content without any web design knowledge.

Unlimited possibilities

Unlock your site's full potential by adding your own HTML and CSS. Use custom fonts and upload your own style sheet to streamline content creation.

Third-party widgets supported

Copy and paste the necessary code needed for a third-party widget. Want to add the MailChimp newsletter sign up pop-up? No problem!

 

Payments

Choose what you accept

Accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express with no processing fees from us; link up your business PayPal account; or do both to give your customers more options.

 

Make it easy for schools

Give your teachers and librarians the convenience of automatic discounts, not requiring payment upon checkout, and the option to request quotes.

Pay when they pick up

Stand out from the competition and offer your customers a "Pay when you pick-up" option. For many users who don't feel comfortable providing credit card details online, this option makes shopping with your store a no brainer.

Discounts in-store and online

Customers who receive standing discounts in your physical store can expect the same special rates online.

Encrypted for peace of mind

Credit card information is passed from the Webstore to your Bookmanager software through a secure, encrypted tunnel. For you technical nerds, we use RSA 2048-bit asymmetric encryption with private keys encrypted using Blowfish 128-bit CBC and a passphrase.

 

Inventory

Little to no data entry

Powered by Titlelink, you have access to book descriptions and cover images for millions of titles. As soon as a title is received in your Bookmanager software, the Webstore does the rest and provides the cover image, book description, reviews, and more.

Keyword searchable

Both your inventory and our huge database is keyword searchable. Search by title, author, ISBN, and subject, with results sorted the way you want.

Choose how you browse

For new customers, products are displayed visually using a tiled "cover view" layout. Change that layout with the click of a button to see more information, or condense it for a detailed need-to-know list view for power users and buyers.

Make notes

Want to say something special about a product? Perhaps a staff review or information about an upcoming promotion or author event? It's easy to tag products with custom messages that can be displayed in bright call-boxes to customers, or for internal staff use.

Share and make lists

Both you and your customers can create, save, and share book lists on the fly. Email those lists directly from the Webstore, share a list or title on social media, or create a print and web ready PDF.

Browse, filter and sort

Both you and your customers can easily sort your inventory and what you can order by subject, what's popular, book condition, binding, date published, forthcoming, and more.

Add custom items easily

Selling something we don't have in our database? No problem! Once a product has been received in your software, you can quickly add to its online listing. Upload your own cover image, descriptions, and product details in a snap.

See multiple conditions rolled into one

Whether you have new, used, remainder, signed, collectible, past, or next editions of a title for sale, your customer will only see one convenient entry with the choice to pick which condition they would like to buy.

It's a sale!

Quickly put your entire Webstore on sale, or flag certain products or subjects with sales discounts for easy promotions and events.

 

Online Orders

Pick up or ship out

Offer your customers the choice to pick up their order in-store, have it shipped out, or have you contact them to arrange the details.

Narrow down where you ship

Choose which provinces, states and/or countries you ship to. Customize a shipping calculator to automatically calculate shipping costs, or allow shipping to be determined on an order-by-order basis.

Guest Checkout

Enable the Guest Checkout option to allow your customers to reserve stock for pick up in-store without the need to create an account. Customers choose how they want to be notified when their order is ready for pick up — by email, text message, or phone call.

Request quotes

Give your customers the option to request a quote rather than check out. The quote request is great for school accounts needing approval or review before a large order is submitted.

Quick notifications

Customers receive email order confirmations immediately after checking out. After you have reviewed and finalized their order, another email notification can be sent directly from your software updating the customer on its status.

Sell gift cards

Gift cards can be enabled for purchase online, and customers can check their existing balances anytime.

Smart quoting for items out of stock

Set rules to define which titles can be ordered, who you buy from, and what to charge to make your desired profit margin. This opens up your customers to millions of titles that can be ordered, with no need for you to handle every request.

Orders flow into your software

New online orders automatically pop into your Bookmanager software. Whether you have one station or twenty, and no matter where you are in the software, you are notified of online orders the moment they are placed.

No lost orders

Orders placed on your Webstore are transferred into your system, emailed to your store, and saved on the customer's online account. This way, if any issues arise, you can always go back and see what the original request was all about.

Import files

You and your customers can import spreadsheets, text files, web pages, and PDFs directly into the Webstore. Dropping a file into your cart or search bar creates a list from any valid ISBNs found within.

 

Catalogues and buying

A buyer's best friend

Use the Webstore's powerful browse and sort options to bulk up sections and subjects in your store. Stock orders transfer directly into your software, separated by supplier.

Pubstock on the go

Your Pubstock subscription is not just a feature of the Bookmanager software. Get access to pricing and availability from over 140 publishers, wholesalers, and distributors for millions of titles, integrated right within your Webstore.

Online publisher catalogues

The majority of your new catalogues and drop-ins are available with the same powerful tools available everywhere else on your Webstore. See sales comparisons, cover images, descriptions, and even markup notes made by your rep.

Compare then order

View a title's previous sale, order, and return history at a glance, as well as how a previous edition performed. Couple this with shared sales and orders history from over 250 independent bookstores, and you've got the tools to make intelligent buying decisions.

Split the work

Multiple buyers can create their own orders and submit separately from each other. Businesses with multiple locations can quickly designate how many copies of a title go to which location, all from the same order box.

Give your reps access

Your reps can mark up their digital catalogues just like they do in person. Allow them to see your order quantities for their lines, add notes and suggestions, and even view and edit your order quantities.

 

Analytics & Reports

Slice and dice

Bookmanager's Analytics is a simple setup with unlimited possibilities. Utilizing your daily sales, orders, on-hands, and returns, Analytics gives you a visual approach to see what is making you money, what has to go, and where your cash is being spent.

The future is colourful

Analytics utilizes colour-coded graphs that tell you exactly what is going on at a glance. The graph's varying shades indicate how old products are, if your sales are up or down compared to the same period last year, and if your current stock level changes are helping or hindering sales.

It's all in the details

Clicking a section of the graph gives you a list of titles that make up that portion. From there, you can drill down and sort even further, allowing you to isolate big sellers and not-so-obvious flops. Hovering over segments of the graph gives you summaries for sales and on-hands, so no matter your approach, the details are available.

Analyze your Webstore

See how many visitors frequent your Webstore, what they did and ordered, and even drill down to individual IP addresses. All activity is tracked and stored for your analytical perusal.

Sort and filter results with ease

Focus in on a single section of your store, or zoom out and look at the big picture. Filter your results by subject, supplier, publisher, customer type, date received, and more.

The bottom line

For those still interested in numerical figures and stats, each graph presents a detail oriented approach below. See your sales, profit, age, averages, turns, percent changes, and more, with the same period's stats from the previous year right there for comparison.

Compare your store

If you choose to anonymously share your weekly sales stats, you can join over 250 other indie booksellers in sales comparisons and trends. How is your fantasy section doing compared with other stores? Are your sales changes from the previous year on track with everyone else? Know it all at a glance.

 
 

Stockchecker

Inventory on the go

Bookmanager's Stockchecker is a handy browser extension that lets you see small icons next to any ISBNs found on a website. Clicking on the icon will display a mini-window that shows what you have in stock at your store, your sales history, plus a handful of other vital Bookmanager features.

Build orders

Your Webstore's order cart is built right into Stockchecker, so you can quickly create orders on any website with valid ISBNs. Orders are transferred instantly to your main cart on your Webstore for further review.

Check Pubstock

Along with your current inventory on-hands and orders, checking Pubstock for a title is just a click away. Stockchecker uses your software and Webstore's settings, so you only see your preferred vendors, and pricing quotes are based on the rules you set.

Requirements

Stockchecker is available for both the Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox web browsers.

Click here to download for Chrome
Click here to download for Firefox
 

Webstore Examples

See what a few of our companies have done with their Webstore:

Mosaic Books in Kelowna, BC

hello hello books in Rockland, ME

Lexicon Books in Lunenburg, NS

Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, ON

Munro's Books in Victoria, BC

Books Are Magic in Brooklyn, NY

Books for Less in Bridgeton, NJ

Kidsbooks in Vancouver, BC

 

Requirements

Bookmanager software users

The Webstore's full gamut of features is available for businesses using the Bookmanager software. Along with the software, you must have the following to enable the Webstore for internal/staff use:

To enable the Webstore for consumer use and to allow customers to purchase and submit orders, you must have the above subscriptions, plus the following:

No software (distributors & publishers) or third-party POS software users (e.g.: Basil, Anthology, etc.)

The Bookmanager Webstore was created for integrated use with our desktop software. In certain situations, it can also work as a stand-alone for wholesalers, publishers, and distributors. That said, some features of the Webstore are only available when using the Bookmanager Software, as they were designed specifically for use with the software. Subscriptions to our data services are still required, but special pricing and conditions may apply.

At this time, the Webstore is not available to those using third-party POS/inventory control software like Basil, Anthology, Booklog, iBID, etc.

Please contact mail@bookmanager.com or (250) 763-4415 if you are a wholesaler/distributor interested in a stand-alone Webstore. We will be happy to discuss your objectives, the best ways to populate data for the site, and the costs involved.