This new online bookshop is helping independent businesses to take on Amazon

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A new online bookshop has launched today in the UK, looking to take on Amazon, and support local independent bookstores in the process.

Bookshop.org has been described as a “revolutionary moment in the history of bookselling” as more than 120 bookshops have signed up to the initiative in the first two weeks.

How does it work?

The website allows each individual bookshop to create a virtual store, and curate personalised book tables to emulate the experience and feel of a bricks and mortar bookshop.

Retailers are not charged to host their stores and will receive the full profit margin from each sale, with customer service and shipping handled by Bookshop.org and its partners.

Andy Rossiter of Rossiter Books in Ross-on-Wye, said, “Being an independent bookseller has for so many years been such a David v Goliath battle that it feels slightly disconcerting when someone at last hands you a bazooka instead of you peppering away with your slingshot.”

When does it launch?

The site is now live at bookshop.org.

While the site was originally slated to launch in the UK in 2021 or even 2022, its plans were moved forward, partly to provide a lifeline for UK retailers in the run up to Christmas - an important time which will now be highly disrupted due to the pandemic.