We were somewhat taken aback that The Bookseller reports today ' Buyers Circle BookRabbit'. The report that‘four buyers have expressed an interest in taking over the e-commerce side of Retail8, which includes the BookRabbit and Samedaybooks websites’.
Times are not easy, so new ventures such as BookRabbit are often prone to speculation as investment is high. From one side offers may start to look an easy way to recoup investment and move on and from the other a potentially cheap buy before value is established. There is little wrong there and this will always happen especially when working capital tightens and the business demands more investment. Some may suggest that it could be a easy way for a trade house to create social traction.
BookRabbit has many good things going for it, but still has to deliver if it is to make that leap to be a serious contender in an already crowded space. It has had its press feature articles but its now time to spend to maintain its high profile and deliver traffic.
Some may question whether BookRabbit has that combination of social and commerce to make a compelling case, or whether it just becomes another social site with much rabbit and little commerce. When you look at others it’s often very easy to see their attraction, stickiness and potential, but again some would question whether its here in enough quantity to make a difference. Its not a case of building a social grouping and then flipping the commerce on as others have, but having the commerce model and social side by side from the start. This is a tall order unless there is something that is so different and compelling it makes sense from the offset. We hope that they can resist the offers but if someone comes knocking and has the cash, many would be tempted to take it.
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