Unique online retailing with hive.co - Gardners Books

Hive is more than just a way for independent retailers to benefit

financially from online sales. It’s giving shops the opportunity to sell eBooks and entertainment products online with no outlay and to receive extra footfall from these purchases.

It’s a way for them to communicate to online consumers via their Hive network page and to let them know where they are and what they’re about, what’s happening in-store, and what products they recommend.

Hive isn’t about driving existing customers to the internet. It’s about tapping into online sales in a way that independent retailers would struggle to do otherwise.

Unique online retailing with hive.co.uk

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INDEPENDENTBOOKSELLERSAFFILIATE PROGRAMME

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Hive is a direct-to-consumer retail website selling books, eBooks, DVDs, music, stationery and more besides.

Uniquely, Hive has an expanding network of hundreds of independent high street retailers associated with it. These retailers receive a financial share of every sale made on both the site and its third party partners. They can also be nominated as ‘back-to-store’ collection points for consumer purchases.

Hive network retailers each have a custom store home page which can be located by an integrated ‘store locator’ on the site. Here they can tell customers all about their shop, news & events, recommended products and contact details.

Like any other major retailer, Hive features publisher/studio based promotions, filtered product search, social media channels, email newsletters, blog and much more besides.

What is Hive?

MY LOCAL RETAILER

Hive works collaboratively with local independent retailers and offers them the opportunity to reach an ever-expanding group of online consumers they may otherwise not engage with.

The site enables consumers to find out all about their local independent retailer, where they are, what events they are holding and what products they recommend. It aims to increases their awareness of these shops and encourage them to pay a visit.

To assist this goal, one of the key USPs of the site is the option for consumers to choose to collect their purchases from any of the Hive network of retailers situated around the UK,or alternatively have them delivered to an address.

Hive has a voice and utilises social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and the blog to inspire debate and interact with consumers about all things book and entertainment related. Hive is more than just a retail website, it’s a place to find out more about local independent retailing.

“a network of hundreds of local independent high street retailers”

Why is Hive different?

MY LOCAL RETAILER

Books eBooks DVDs Stationery BlogThe Hive Network

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How does it compare to other online retailers?Hive.co.uk

Offers

SEO & PPCOngoing optimisation and advertising to ensure Hive is visible on the searches that matter

PromotionsMultiple product offers at any given time, with featured topical promotions for key times and events through the year

Bespoke HompageIt provides a custom landing page for every Hive retailer, where they can share their latest news, events, recommendations, contact details and more besides.

CompetitionsSocial media competitions aimed at increasing awareness of titles, authors and the Hive concept

Store LocatorA quick, easy way for customers to find their local retailers page and everything they need to know about them

Hive BlogRegular blogs from the Hive team on all things literary and entertaining, as well as from special guest authors and publishers too!

National Book TokensHive is pleased to offer NBT as a payment option within the shopping basket

Social MediaHive is integrated with Facebook & Twitter, allowing consumers to log in, post comments etc

VoucheringPromotional vouchers for online & in-store

ServiceFast, friendly customer service team available via both phone and e-mail

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- Chapter One -

Read on to find out more

Hive has everything you’d expect to see from a major retail website and hopefully a bit more besides! But what about the finer details? It also includes...

Enter HIVE20 at checkout to receive 20% off your order!

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How does Hive compare?

Benefits forgetting involved

START SELLING eBOOKS!Hive is the simplest way for you to sell eBooks to your customers. Simply direct the consumer to Hive, ask them to select you as their favourite shop during account setup, or at checkout, and you will then receive remuneration on that sale. Easy as that!

FINANCIAL BENEFITSNetwork retailers receive a payment on every sale where their shop is either geographically closest to the customer, where their shop is nominated as a collection point, or where they’ve been nominated as the customers favourite shop.

EXTRA FOOTFALLNetwork retailers will potentially receive footfall from customers they may never have seen before, when ‘back-to-store free delivery’ is selected at checkout. This offers an additional opportunity to interact with a potential new store customer, when they come to collect their Hive order.

GET YOUR SHOP ONLINEHive is a great way to have an online presence, and another way for internet shoppers to find out about their local shop. If a network retailer has an existing website, great! We’ll link to this from their Hive page which will help their websites search rankings and their site visits too.

YOU’RE 24/7 SO SHOUT ABOUT IT!Network retailers can opt-in to receive PoS initiatives that tie-in with the website and encourage footfall in-store. Let passing trade know about your online offering!

PROFESSIONAL HELPProfessional marketing and PR to get the best out of the brand and its network retailers.

BEST OF ALL...Last but not least... this is a completely free service. No strings attached.

A CUSTOMISABLE PAGEEvery Hive network retailer gets their very own page dedicated to their shop. It has its own Hive URL for quick access and is fully customisable and easy to update via a special dashboard. The page includes:

- Biog and custom banner for the shop- The ability to recommend books/products- List news & events- A link through to their existing websites- Links through to Facebook & Twitter pages- Interactive Google map to their location- Full contact details of their shop

Visit www.hive.co.uk/store-locator and search for a bookshop to view a customisable page.

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SHOP24/7

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Marketing activities

Hive has had some fantastic coverage in the media and this has been down to a series of marketing activities designed to get the brand out into the public domain.

The two most important initiatives have been the Have The Last Word and Guardian Partnership which are explained further on the opposite page. Other initiatives include:

POINT-OF-SALEThe Hive network of shops have received several PoS packs to help them engage their existing customers with Hive and attract new ones into the shop. Packs have included posters, bookmarks, stickers and more besides.

ONLINE ADVERTISINGThere have been millions of banner impressions across a large network of websites, including the major online newspapers and special targeted sites to get most appropriate people viewing the adverts.

PRESS ADVERTISINGHive has had printed adverts in selected key newspapers including the Independent, i, Times and Guardian. These have had a variety of themes, such as the ‘collect in-store’ message seen in the image above.

OTHER ACTIVITYHive’s advertised in several major UK airports, created large format lorry adverts and partnered with various staff incentive schemes amongst other marketing activities.

SHOP24/7

@NEWS

Social media and emails

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media has a huge part to play in developing a modern brand, and Hive is no different.

Both Twitter and Facebook have been valuable tools for championing independent bookselling, the Hive network and the benefits online consumers can reap from shopping on Hive and visiting their local independents.

EMAILS

Regular emails to the Hive customer base ensures that customers know about everything we are doing, from promotional offers and themed products lists, to highlighting Hive network retailers and telling them about the latest site developments. Email sign-ups are encouraged via the site, social media and other marketing activities.

HAVE THE LAST WORD- with Mark Billingham

Hive has previously run an online competition where the public were encouraged to submit an ending to a specially penned short story by bestselling author Mark Billingham.

With £1000 of Hive vouchers to be won, the competition had a great deal of interest from the public and media alike, with major radio and press coverage from the likes of the BBC, Daily Mail and Telegraph.

A range of PoS for the competition was created and distributed to get the Hive network retailers involved.

THE GUARDIAN PARTNERSHIP

Towards the end of 2011 Hive partnered up with the Guardian news group and had a special micro-site on guardian.co.uk to highlight independent bookselling. This was achieved through a series of articles and web chats with selected Hive network bookshops.

Alongside these articles there was a Hive competition to encourage email sign-up and once again raise awareness of the brand.

There are a number of different opportunities to get involved with Hive, please choose from the options below to ensure you’re speaking to the right people...

BECOME A NETWORK MEMBEROur Regional Account Management team is headed by Ruth Gardner. To contact Ruth, who will be able to put you in touch with the correct account manager for you area, please call 07771 708 063 or [email protected]

ADVERTISE ON HIVEIf you’re interested in advertising key products, banner advertising, blogging, deep-linking or any other type of marketing please contact [email protected]

AFFILIATE PROGRAMMEFor more information about the affiliate programme or to discuss an opportunity to partner with hive in more detail, please contact us: [email protected]

OTHER ENQUIRIESFor any other type of enquiry please contact [email protected]

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INDEPENDENTBOOKSELLERSAFFILIATE PROGRAMME

An initiative from