Publishers unfazed by Web

Home Channel News, May 1, 2000 by Monica Toriello

Free information online complements, not cannibalizes, home improvement book sales

Free how-to advice is a key element on almost all of the home improvement e-tailing sites that have sprung up on the Internet over the last two years. Animated instructions, detailed project information, question-and-answer services and live assistance from home improvement experts are some of the ways that companies such as Hardware.com, HomeWarehouse.com and CornerHardware.com are trying to stand out in an increasingly crowded field.

A growing portion of the how-to text and graphics on those Web sites is coming from traditional publishers like Creative Homeowner and Reader's Digest. For example, Creative Homeowner, the Upper Saddle River, N.J.-based publisher formerly known as Creative Homeowner Press, licenses content to Hardware.com and OurHouse.com, according to Creative's director of Internet business development, Barbara Fox.

"Every day we get phone calls and e-mail from Web stores, multimedia companies and even portals, asking to license our content,' Fox said. She said that initially, the top brass at Creative Homeowner was hesitant about putting any material on the Internet for fear of cannibalizing book sales. Creative Homeowner has about 90 book titles, more than 200 project booklets and about 20 outdoor project plans.

"But we soon found that online info just makes consumers hungrier for more information," Fox said. "Our book sales have been better than ever. The how-to guides that are available on the Internet motivate DIYers to undertake simple projects, then they become more courageous to try more complicated projects. So they buy more books. For us, the Internet has been a catalyst, not a competitor."

Another publisher, Minneapolis-based Creative Publishing International, is also seeing substantial growth in its sales of home improvement books. Creative Publishing produces the Black & Decker-branded home improvement library as well as other home-and hobby-related tides.

"Our sales through home centers and hardware retailers -- including Home Depot, Lowe's and Menard have risen 45 percent for each of the last three years," said Creative Publishing's marketing director, Jeff Swanson. "That's our fastest-growing distribution channel." Swanson doesn't expect sales to slow down any time soon, and he hasn't seen any evidence that free how-to guides on the Internet are a threat to the book business.

"Our books have outstanding photography and very detailed instructions that the Internet how-tos don't provide," Swanson said. Creative Publishing's best-selling tide, "The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair;" hit store shelves in August 1999 and has already sold more than 250,000 copies.

Indeed, more home improvement dealers may soon be entering the book-selling business. McCoy's Building Supply Centers, the 100-unit dealer based in San Marcos, Texas, is adding books as a new category in its remodeled stores. Currently, books are being sold in seven McCoy's locations, said spokeswoman Ann Frugoni. The retailer plans to roll out books to all locations over the coming years.

Bob Echtle, merchandise manager for TruServ, said only about 10 percent of the stores operated by the co-op's 8,000 dealer-members carry books. But he expects that percentage to grow significantly. "There's a heightened awareness right now among dealers about books, partly because they see that some of the publishers on Amazon.com's list of top-selling books are available from our warehouse," Echtle said. TruServ's book offering consists mainly of titles from Creative Homeowner and Workman Publishing.

Although Amazon may sell books at lower prices than hardware dealers can, Echtle believes there's something to be said for being a one-stop shop for home-related projects.

All under one roof

"We are in such a project-oriented business," Echtle said. "When people come in to buy the materials for the project, it's not a stretch for them to buy the how-to book right then and there." The thinking goes that a homeowner with a leaky faucet can't wait a few days for Amazon to deliver a book on basic plumbing.

Echtle said TruServ's dealers are encouraged to cross merchandise how-to books with the materials needed for the various projects. Cross merchandising makes same-store sales of books shoot up, agreed Mary Donnellon, a vp for Time Media Direct, a publisher and distributor of books and magazines. Time Media's customer base includes Home Depot, HomeBase and Sears.

"Store-by-store sales of home improvement books are growing every year," Donnellon said. "Retailers aren't just selling books in their how-to departments. Books are in the plumbing aisle and the paint department and all over the stores." Donnellon said that as long as consumers are spending money on their homes, they would spend money on books about improving their homes. "If they're shelling out a few thousand dollars on a new deck, they're not going to hesitate to buy three or four $10 books about deck care."

Dealers and publishers reason that books, in many ways, are more convenient and more complete than the Internet-delivered information. Marsha Sidmore, president of Geneva, 111.-based book distributor DIY Source, insists there will always be a need for books.