An online store was in the plans for Southwestern Publishing House, but not quite as quickly as it happened. As the leader in publishing guidebooks for cultural attractions such as zoos and museums, Southwestern Publishing House was faced with a group of clients whose gift shops were closed, leaving no way to sell their books and products due to COVID-19. At the same time, Amazon deprioritized delivering all books for several weeks, taking away another option for generating sales.
“As the pandemic unfolded, the challenge was to help clients reach their audience without the use of their physical store that also served as the fulfillment arm of their online store,” said Chris Capen, president of Southwestern Publishing House. “With the new Southwestern Publishing Marketplace online store, we are now able to add a service to our publishing capabilities that provides an immediate sales opportunity but also represents a long-term opportunity for many of our clients to sell products to their audiences.”
With the help of the Southwestern Family of Companies’ IT team, a quick website designer, and the efforts of managing editor Kristin Connelly, Southwestern Publishing House was able to develop and launch an online store on June 1. The store not only serves current clients but is also scalable for future partnerships.
“In addition to selling our books, our partners also wanted a place where they could sell other products, so we are now in the process of adding puzzles, family games, stuffed animals, and even books from other publishers to our store,” Chris said. “Our goal is to become a central online store for the Family of Companies selling a diverse group of products that helps all of our companies move more items in a commissionable structure.”
Southwestern Publishing House has more than 1,500 exceptional titles in a wide variety of categories, from cookbooks, children’s books, and guidebooks to history, reference, educational, and business books.
Visit the Southwestern Publishing House online store at SWPHMarketplace.com.
