ABACUS-16 Survey to Open August 23

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The American Booksellers Association has announced that on Wednesday, August 23, member bookstores will be able to begin submitting their store data to ABACUS-16, ABAs annual bookstore financial survey. The ABACUS project, available only to members, is a confidential survey of key bookstore financial information that provides participating stores with in-depth, customized reports that are an important tool for improving business operations and profitability.

“I dont know if bookstores realize what an incredible resource ABACUS is — one thats not available in every industry, and one that I think has helped to fuel the resurgence of indie bookstores in recent years,” said Jessica Stockton Bagnulo of Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. She noted that the ABACUS reports analysis “has helped us to make informed decisions about our business, from creating yearly budget projections to making changes to our practices and infrastructure.”

By submitting their store data for ABACUS-16, stores will receive a detailed individual store performance report that analyzes their financial results, including relevant and insightful benchmarking comparisons across a number of appropriate criteria.

This year, ABA will be working to compile and create the ABACUS report with Industry Insights, of Dublin, Ohio, a company that has worked with associations for more than 35 years in preparing studies of business demographics, operations information, and financial ratios. As part of this new partnership, in addition to the customized printed report, bookstores participating in ABACUS-16 will be able to access a secure and private online searchable results tool that allows users to compile ABACUS data using criteria that they select.

We are very excited to be working with Industry Insights, whose experience and resources will make ABACUS an even more useful tool for increasing bookstore profitability,” said ABA Senior Strategy Officer Dan Cullen.

An e-mail will be sent to ABA member bookstores from Industry Insights on August 23 with instructions on how to access this years survey. Members will be able to complete the survey securely online or they may download a PDF version of the form to complete.

Next weeks issue of BTW will have more information about the ABACUS-16 submission process, which will begin on August 23. ABA member stores with questions about ABACUS can e-mail Cullen at [email protected].

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