ABA Board Encourages Stores to Participate in ABACUS Before July 1 Deadline

In an e-mail on Monday, June 20, the American Booksellers Association’s Board of Directors urged member stores to submit their 2015 financial data to the ABACUS-15 survey by the July 1 deadline.

“We know this isn’t your first update about ABACUS, but we believe that this project is so critically important to your store’s profitability that, as your Board, we wanted to make a special, direct appeal to you to become part of the ABACUS community by completing the survey,” the 11-member Board wrote.

“ABACUS is an incomparable bookseller tool. The customized data you will receive provides a roadmap that will prove immensely valuable in strategic planning, gaining access to capital, benchmarking, and managing your store to greater growth. It will also be a very useful tool should you plan to open a new store or a second location in the future.”

The Board’s appeal to members was bolstered by comments from several booksellers who noted how important ABACUS has been to their financial and strategic planning.

The Board stressed, however, that a critical number of bookstores must participate for ABACUS to succeed.

To submit data to the confidential survey, booksellers should look for an e-mail dated May 26 from Martha Love of the National Association of College Stores’ (NACS) OnCampus Research, which bears the subject line “Ready, Set, ABACUS — Survey Now Open.” The e-mail includes a link to the secure online ABACUS submission form as well as introductory information, instructions, and answers to frequently asked questions.

Booksellers with questions about submitting data to the survey should contact Love at [email protected] or (800) 622-7498, ext. 2448. General questions about ABACUS should be addressed to ABA’s Lisa Winn via e-mail or at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7557.