http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/dublin/2005/12/30/did-you-notice-how-shops-have-changed-in-the-last-5-years/ People, Technology, Business and Innovation Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:01:14 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/dublin/2005/12/30/did-you-notice-how-shops-have-changed-in-the-last-5-years/comment-page-1/#comment-276689 Daniel Moloney Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:46:30 +0000 http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/?p=65#comment-276689 I work in a bookshop in Dublin and it has been neccesary to reduce the size of the computing section that I run due to falling sales. We have the largest computing section in the city and so I believe that this is indicative of a wider trend. I would disagree with the contention that all shops focus on the mainstream. Most of the positive performers in the shop are not books on excel and other office applications but titles on Joomla, Oracle, Drupal, open source and other emerging innovations. Most people by this stage have knowledge of office applications and their sales have reached a plateau. Unfortunately for computing sections, the previous boom in the sales of those books, allowed a broader range of titles. Now the onus is on us to ensure we can respond to and keep ahead of these nascent technologies and also keep a broad enough stock of titles. While I recognise that people use online stores for purchasing books, I would contend that a specialist bookseller has more knowledge than unvetted recomendations online. The ability to browse titles freely is a service we can offer also, with direct comparison possible easily. I work in a bookshop in Dublin and it has been neccesary to reduce the size of the computing section that I run due to falling sales. We have the largest computing section in the city and so I believe that this is indicative of a wider trend. I would disagree with the contention that all shops focus on the mainstream. Most of the positive performers in the shop are not books on excel and other office applications but titles on Joomla, Oracle, Drupal, open source and other emerging innovations. Most people by this stage have knowledge of office applications and their sales have reached a plateau. Unfortunately for computing sections, the previous boom in the sales of those books, allowed a broader range of titles. Now the onus is on us to ensure we can respond to and keep ahead of these nascent technologies and also keep a broad enough stock of titles. While I recognise that people use online stores for purchasing books, I would contend that a specialist bookseller has more knowledge than unvetted recomendations online. The ability to browse titles freely is a service we can offer also, with direct comparison possible easily.

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