The store has been printing newsletters for over 10 years now, and I want to take all of those staff book reviews and make a searchable database. Also, we want to have a real audio page where people can listen to excerpts of author events. When Powell's was faced with the decision of opening more stores in Portland or going online, the bookseller opted for the latter and now manages a profitable site. Because of its special niche, Gopalpur said Powell's is successful in spite of larger online retailers. What we try to do is focus on our strengths at locating hard to find books.
Expansion is slated for the site.
Also, bestsellers will be broken down by section or subsection, in both outlets. The best thing about being on the web is keeping our customers in touch with us. Of course, we'd like a few more visitors and orders. Though Amazon continues to lose money, they have also attracted a lot of customers from us for certain orders. We still hope to reach more people and find a niche for ourselves, but this has yet to really happen.