ABACUS

ABA CEO Oren Teicher points to a number of indicators of the vitality of the independent bookstore channel in 2012 in his first letter to members of the New Year.

The ABACUS-11 Survey form will remain open through this weekend to accommodate booksellers who are finalizing their submissions of 2011 financial data.

Today is the deadline for the ABACUS-11 Survey, but due to the large number of submissions received this week, the online ABACUS submission form will stay live into next week.

The deadline for booksellers to submit their store’s information to the ABACUS-11 Survey is fast approaching, and the American Booksellers Association is urging bookstore members to participate now.

The deadline for ABACUS-11 is August 15, less than two weeks away. Booksellers are urged to participate in the annual financial survey, which bookstores like Washington State’s Eagle Harbor Book Company call “valuable, credible, and very useful for optimizing business operations.”

The owners and staff at ABA member bookstores that complete the ABACUS-11 Survey before the August 15 deadline are eligible to apply for the Avin Mark Domnitz Scholarship to Winter Institute 8.

On July 16, ABA member bookstores received an e-mail reminder from OnCampus Research information analyst Martha Love about the opportunity to submit their 2011 financial results to this year’s ABACUS Survey.

The ABACUS-11 Survey process begins today with an e-mail to ABA member bookstores from the National Association of College Stores’ OnCampus Research. This year’s survey gathers financial data from 2011 store operations.

With the August 15 deadline for bookstore participation in the ABACUS-10 Survey now past, this week ABA announced that the process of analyzing and compiling the data into store reports was moving forward.

ABA members have only a few days left to submit their 2010 financial data to this year’s ABACUS Survey. Data gathering for ABACUS-10 comes to an end at midnight on Monday, August 15.

For the third year, the American Booksellers Association will award the Avin Mark Domnitz Scholarship to attend the Winter Institute to the owner or an employee of a bookstore who submits the store’s 2010 financial data to the ABACUS-10 survey before the August 15 deadline.

This year’s ABACUS-10 Survey will provide booksellers with more detailed comparisons than previous surveys regarding crucial areas affecting their bookstores’ bottom line.  Data will also be presented more visually, through the expanded use of charts and graphs.

Past ABACUS studies have helped Changing Hands co-owner Bob Sommer secure a business loan, negotiate a lease, and evaluate store spending and operations.

On average, the most profitable businesses among the participants in last year’s ABACUS survey spent 5.9 percent less on total compensation costs, 5.9 percent less on total occupancy costs, and a staggering 8 percent less on all other operating costs.  Learn how to get  a report comparing your business to like-size bookstores in these crucial areas and more.