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18-08-2013, 12:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 18-08-2013, 12:52 PM by BlueKelah.)
(16-08-2013, 01:13 PM)KopiKat Wrote: (16-08-2013, 12:49 PM)BlueKelah Wrote: just like video rentals dying out, book rentals gonna die out, just a matter of time.
not a very astute move by management to try to revive borders.
Better to go the online selling way or online subscription model.
Popular / Borders in Books Rental biz? That's news to me!
Perhaps you made a mistake? Or you read the article wrongly? The high rentals in the article refers to the Shop Space Rent ie. High Cost / Expense to operate...
Paiseh blur lah, i meant bricks and mortar book seller lah. My main point is these sort of classic media is being overtaken by new technology / new ways of delivery of information.
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(18-08-2013, 12:51 PM)BlueKelah Wrote: (16-08-2013, 01:13 PM)KopiKat Wrote: (16-08-2013, 12:49 PM)BlueKelah Wrote: just like video rentals dying out, book rentals gonna die out, just a matter of time.
not a very astute move by management to try to revive borders.
Better to go the online selling way or online subscription model.
Popular / Borders in Books Rental biz? That's news to me!
Perhaps you made a mistake? Or you read the article wrongly? The high rentals in the article refers to the Shop Space Rent ie. High Cost / Expense to operate...
Paiseh blur lah, i meant bricks and mortar book seller lah. My main point is these sort of classic media is being overtaken by new technology / new ways of delivery of information.
Ok, I won't dispute that point. I personally think that it's going to be a high probability loss making attempt, yet another, after Harris & Prologue.
But then again, I also have another thought. In a dying biz, the competition becomes less and less intense as one by one, they closed shop. At the final stage, the last survivor becomes a monopoly / niche in the brick and mortar world. The margin may not be fantastic, but, it could possibly be more than enough to give a net profit? To make this niche even more enticing, they're likely trying to make it a lifestyle thingy eg. ambience, cafe,...
Personally, I did try out their cafe, Epilogue at Prologue. Not too bad... Perhaps they ought to do that on a bigger scale. There seems to be better market demand... see Starbucks, Coffee Bean, UCC, ... Haha... 
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Actually, I really wonder why Popular still has to have so many and relatively large outlets in Singapore. Popular could be operated in Amazon kinda of retailing strategy. Most of its outlets should be simply as a showroom or converted to other kinds of retailing. Popular can have a centralized fulfillment center and deliver to the customer by post. Honestly, Singapore is not really that big, a few large showrooms around the island should be enough.
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18-08-2013, 05:03 PM
(This post was last modified: 18-08-2013, 05:04 PM by CY09.)
It is convenient for parents and tuition teachers alike to purchase assignment books/stationary at a popular outlet near their home. Also some people like to compare the assignment books content, before purchasing the book. The shelves of Popular enables this comparsion.
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(18-08-2013, 05:03 PM)CY09 Wrote: It is convenient for parents and tuition teachers alike to purchase assignment books/stationary at a popular outlet near their home. Also some people like to compare the assignment books content, before purchasing the book. The shelves of Popular enables this comparsion.
Actually, I can't understand what's the convenience about buying immediately compared to order and delivery. The lead time may be just 1 day only since Singapore is not that big. maybe same day delivery. I doubt the difference is obvious to anyone.
As for comparison, showroom can fulfill that need. Large showroom can even be more available books/stationary.
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18-08-2013, 05:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 18-08-2013, 05:27 PM by CY09.)
From experience, I would prefer the immediate delivery format. This is because my tuition sessions are between 2-4 days. So being able to compare the books and purchasing it directly helps to ensure my "turnover" process is relatively short. You can say that it is the peace of mind of obtaining the book + ability to compare + convenience that makes this neighbourhood outlets popular. Convenience is particularly important since many individuals have to juggle between work and tuiton/getting the assignment book for child. Going to localised showrooms may be hard
It is true that some assignment books may not exist in the neighbourhood outlets, but this rarely is the case. The neighbourhood outlets have almost the same collection of assignment books as the central Popular outlet at bras basah.
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(18-08-2013, 04:36 PM)KopiKat Wrote: But then again, I also have another thought. In a dying biz, the competition becomes less and less intense as one by one, they closed shop. At the final stage, the last survivor becomes a monopoly / niche in the brick and mortar world. The margin may not be fantastic, but, it could possibly be more than enough to give a net profit? To make this niche even more enticing, they're likely trying to make it a lifestyle thingy eg. ambience, cafe,...
I would also point out that another competitor- Kinokuniya seems to be doing relatively well because they've identified their niche which is large enough to be profitable in our small market. They've just opened up a new outlet at JEM.
So Popular is in a tough industry but I completely agree that they've found their niche (assessment books + Stationery) that should keep them going for some time yet.
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(18-08-2013, 05:24 PM)CY09 Wrote: From experience, I would prefer the immediate delivery format. This is because my tuition sessions are between 2-4 days. So being able to compare the books and purchasing it directly helps to ensure my "turnover" process is relatively short. You can say that it is the peace of mind of obtaining the book + ability to compare + convenience that makes this neighbourhood outlets popular. Convenience is particularly important since many individuals have to juggle between work and tuiton/getting the assignment book for child. Going to localised showrooms may be hard
It is true that some assignment books may not exist in the neighbourhood outlets, but this rarely is the case. The neighbourhood outlets have almost the same collection of assignment books as the central Popular outlet at bras basah.
Sorry if I am asking a stupid question as I have no kids and no tuition at my time.
What do you mean by "my tuition sessions are between 2-4 days"? So totally for a kid, you teach max 4 days only?
How many tuitions do kids need these days? Does every tuition have its own assignment book?
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(18-08-2013, 05:24 PM)CY09 Wrote: It is true that some assignment books may not exist in the neighbourhood outlets, but this rarely is the case. The neighbourhood outlets have almost the same collection of assignment books as the central Popular outlet at bras basah.
If it's not available (can be out-of-stock), they can also help you check through their system on which other Popular store has the stocks, even right down to the balance qty.
freedom Wrote:Actually, I can't understand what's the convenience about buying immediately compared to order and delivery. The lead time may be just 1 day only since Singapore is not that big. maybe same day delivery. I doubt the difference is obvious to anyone.
I'm also quite surprised that my school going kids can often times, be suddenly required by their teachers to get a new assessment book to bring to school the next day, especially when such a book is not sold in their school book store... same thing for Art & Craft materials... I also can't understand how they can possibly lose a text book once in a while and need an immediate replacement.... 
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18-08-2013, 06:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 18-08-2013, 07:05 PM by CY09.)
(18-08-2013, 05:51 PM)freedom Wrote: (18-08-2013, 05:24 PM)CY09 Wrote: From experience, I would prefer the immediate delivery format. This is because my tuition sessions are between 2-4 days. So being able to compare the books and purchasing it directly helps to ensure my "turnover" process is relatively short. You can say that it is the peace of mind of obtaining the book + ability to compare + convenience that makes this neighbourhood outlets popular. Convenience is particularly important since many individuals have to juggle between work and tuiton/getting the assignment book for child. Going to localised showrooms may be hard
It is true that some assignment books may not exist in the neighbourhood outlets, but this rarely is the case. The neighbourhood outlets have almost the same collection of assignment books as the central Popular outlet at bras basah.
Sorry if I am asking a stupid question as I have no kids and no tuition at my time.
What do you mean by "my tuition sessions are between 2-4 days"? So totally for a kid, you teach max 4 days only?
How many tuitions do kids need these days? Does every tuition have its own assignment book?
Hi Freedom, "sessions between 2-4 days" refers to the no of days between each tuition session. For example I may tutor a student on Tuesday and Friday weekly. Hence in between the tuition sessions, there are 2 days (wed& thur) or 3 days (sat-mon). During the first few lessons I will gauge the student's ability and then proceed to buy the relevant books. I will try to buy these books before the next lesson (which may be 2 days time). Hence the phrase "2-4 days". It represents the days I have to prep for next lesson, if needed.
As for the kiasuness of parents, don't be surprised. I know of parents who hire tutors for 3 out of 4 of their child's primary school subjects. This is on top of their swimming/piano/ballet enrichment. And yes every tuition has its own assignment books. There is even a market for school's past year papers.
For the assessment book market in Singapore, I would be interested to conduct a survey into how many assessment books each child has done/touched in their life. For me, I think I may have used about 30 books during my childhood days. One of my current tutee (pri 6) has a shelf of assessment/ help books. A very nice indicator of Popular's earnings as a major distributor of assessment books for the various publishers
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