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eCommerce for booksellers is an interesting problem. Many bookstores use IndieCommerce / Bookweb which has an unconventional status (a trade site? non-profit?).

eCommerce for booksellers is an interesting problem. Many bookstores use IndieCommerce / Bookweb which has an unconventional status (a trade site? non-profit?). Where the frontend is lacking, it seems to make retail operations easy. Pretty sure that the ordering from distributors all the way through the inventory and POS sort of work out of the box. We've had a time adding a same-day delivery carrier integration to IC because they don't have a lot of development resources. I know some stores that use Shopify or Adobe Commerce. When it comes to books, there are a LOT of SKUs (think IC has 2-3 million on it's built-in catalog). 5 years ago, that was a big challenge for folks wanting to sell on Shopify (which is IMO the best eCommerce platform)

greenie_beans 1y ago
bookhead started as my response to struggling with an indiecommerce site but now the product vision is different with some similarities. i have some ideas to collaborate with them if they are willing. it's a valuable product for some stores, but i agree that shopify is the best and i'm hoping to provide tools for stores to use shopify if they also feel that way. > When it comes to books, there are a LOT of SKUs (think IC has 2-3 million on it's built-in catalog). 5 years ago, that was a big challenge for folks wanting to sell on Shopify (which is IMO the best eCommerce platform) i have a blog post planned about this. i think the modern indie bookstore tech stack should be bookshop.org doing it's thing + a website with your local inventory. let bookshop sell all the inventory you don't have on hand but can easily get from ingram, and then your unique inventory will rise above in SEO. it doesn't make sense to me for 600+ IC stores to all have the exact same inventory, competing in SEO with the exact same metadata. but what does your local bookstore have? unique titles that only they carry. > Bookweb tells me you've been around for a while... if you are a bookseller, come find my table at winter institute 2026!

greenie_beans 1y ago

bookhead started as my response to struggling with an indiecommerce site but now the product vision is different with some similarities. i have some ideas to collaborate with them if they are willing. it's a valuable product for some stores, but i agree that shopify is the best and i'm hoping to provide tools for stores to use shopify if they also feel that way. > When it comes to books, there are a LOT of SKUs (think IC has 2-3 million on it's built-in catalog). 5 years ago, that was a big challenge for folks wanting to sell on Shopify (which is IMO the best eCommerce platform) i have a blog post planned about this. i think the modern indie bookstore tech stack should be bookshop.org doing it's thing + a website with your local inventory. let bookshop sell all the inventory you don't have on hand but can easily get from ingram, and then your unique inventory will rise above in SEO. it doesn't make sense to me for 600+ IC stores to all have the exact same inventory, competing in SEO with the exact same metadata. but what does your local bookstore have? unique titles that only they carry. > Bookweb tells me you've been around for a while... if you are a bookseller, come find my table at winter institute 2026!