NVNR Takeaway: School Book Fairs & Inventory Management

recap from Melissa Taylor, E. Shaver, booksellers in Savannah, GA

This NVNR Session addressed the inventory logistics of school book fairs. There are so many ways to do this whether the fair is in-school, in-store, or online. Where are books being shipped? How do you handle the sales in your POS? The session was lead by Molly Gilroy Olivo, Manager, Child's Play, Washington, DC and Melissa Taylor, Co-Owner, E. Shaver, bookseller, Savannah, GA 

Title Curation

Almost the first topic discussed was title curation for book fairs. Although the session was focused on the logistics of managing inventory, the topic of how to select books for a school book fair was of special interest to attendees and there was an in depth discussion. 

Child's Play Bookstore, for example, works from a standard set list, which they customize as needed for each book fair.

E. Shaver, on the other hand, creates new lists from scratch for each book fair with an emphasis on new titles. To help with the list selection, they send a google form link to the head of the book fair at the school to disseminate to teachers to get some of their input into titles they would especially like to see.

Inventory

Should stores add book fair titles to their overall inventory? Or does that needlessly confuse in store inventory levels and stock availability?

E. Shaver uses the Anthology POS system which includes a book fair module. The store receives the books into inventory and then scans them into the book fair module which "checks them out" so they do not show in the store's regular inventory. They then sort the books by section (Middle Grade, Picture Books, etc.) and repack them to be delivered to the school. 

Child's Play, on the other handdoes not receive the books into inventory until after the book fair. They also sort books by section prior to delivering them to the school. 

Staffing:

Should you staff the fair yourself or let the book fair organizers be responsible for staffing?

E. Shaver sets up and staffs the book fairs they do. The store restocks the fair with inventory from the store as necessary and takes special orders for the kids on site. Special orders are delivered to the school as they arrive after the fair. Square is used to process sales at the book fair. 

Unlike E. Shaver, Child's Play Bookstore delivers and picks up the stock but does not staff the fair. They also restock from their store inventory as they receive restock requests from the school. They use Square to process book fair sales.

Reconciling:

What do you do with leftover stock?

After the book fair is over, E. Shaver scans all of the books back into the Anthology book fair module, which then adjusts inventory based on what was returned to the shop. The store will then either hold onto the stock for other upcoming book fairs, move them into regular store inventory, or they will return the books they don't need. The store uses a storage unit to help manage the space needed to process the extra inventory. 

Child's Play receives the product into inventory after it is returned to the store, whereupon they also decide whether to return the books or put them on the shelf in the store for regular sales. 

Melissa Taylor, who co-moderated the session, noted the event was a success and generated animated discussion among the attendees;"I think book fairs are such a big project and everyone does them slightly differently that there is always something you can learn from another store." 

Tools:

E. Shaver's Book Title List Form

E. Shaver's Book Fair Agreement for School Book Fairs