The Bookseller reports that Canadian bookseller Indigo Books and Music Inc. is converting more browsers to customers outstripping rival Amazon.ca, the Canada arm of the global bookseller, for the first time, an industry analyst has claimed. Amazon.ca has increased its online traffic 25% in the past few months, but a higher percentage of browsers on Indigo actually make a purchase. According to Brian Pow, an analyst at Toronto’s Acumen Partners, Indigo has profited from the power of its brand locally. “When we do surveys about which website people use for buying books, Indigo is usually front of line,” he said. “People remember the brand from the store front, and it also relates back to the fact that consumers still want to do some shopping physically, and pick up and feel the goods at a retail store,” he said.
Since summer 2002, Indigo’s online sales have increased from Cdn$35m to Cdn$87m annually.
