Industry Insights to Offer ABACUS Assistance in ABA Member Lounge at BookExpo

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ABACUS logoMichael Becher of Industry Insights, which assists the American Booksellers Association in compiling and creating the annual ABACUS benchmarking survey of bookstore financials, will be on hand in the ABA Member Lounge at BookExpo 2018 to answer questions about the survey, review the report’s many features, and help booksellers prepare for submitting their store’s numbers.

Becher will be in the lounge on Wednesday, May 30, from noon to 5:00 p.m. and Thursday, May 31, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Booksellers who would like to set up an appointment ahead of time can e-mail Becher at [email protected].

ABA main store members received an e-mail on Friday, May 11, with instructions on how to access this year’s survey, which members can complete securely online or download as a PDF to complete and return to Industry Insights.

The deadline for submitting to ABACUS-17 is Friday, June 15. ABA member bookstores can begin the submission process by going to www.ABACUSbenchmarking.com. If stores participated last year, the store account information has been carried forward. New participants will need to create an account to access the site.

Bookstores that have never submitted to ABACUS that participate in ABACUS-17 will this year have the option of registering an additional staff person for the upcoming Winter Institute, set for January 2019 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

ABACUS is an exclusive member benefit for participating bookstores, and this confidential survey of key bookstore financial information provides those participating stores with in-depth, customized reports that are an important tool for improving business operations and profitability.

By becoming part of the ABACUS community of participating bookstores, booksellers will receive:

  • A full ABACUS benchmarking report (including comparative financial ratios, operations data, and company profile information)
  • A customized bookstore performance report
  • A range of online reporting tools that provide a wide variety of specific analyses, allowing stores to evaluate performance versus similar companies and track their company’s performance over time against the industry results, among other criteria.

ABA member stores with questions about ABACUS can e-mail ABA Senior Strategy Officer Dan Cullen or Becher of Industry Insights.