Booksellers Association - National Book Tokens

National Book Tokens is the oldest multi-retailer gift card scheme in the UK and Ireland and have been inspiring booklovers since 1932. National Book Tokens gift cards are an essential part of any bookseller’s product mix, delivering on average around 2% of turnover. They can be loaded with any value from £1/€1 to £250/€250 and there are a range of eye-catching designs available, suitable for booklovers of all ages and tastes.

National Book Tokens support several charities and initiatives to help encourage reading and literacy for all. They are the proud sponsor of World Book Day, the biggest annual event supporting books and reading; Read for Good, the charity that improves lives through reading with its brilliant sponsored read and hospital programme; and Book Aid International, a charity that sends books around the world to communities where people do not have access to the books they need. National Book Tokens also sponsor the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards, the Irish Book Awards, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

What are the benefits for bookshops?

- Over £17m worth of National Book Tokens gift cards are sold through member bookshops across the UK and Ireland each year, with every National Book Tokens gift card creating two store visits (one to buy, one to redeem)
- National Book Tokens encourages new customers into your shop throughout the year
- National Book Tokens deliver incremental sales, with on average 50% of customers adding cash to the National Book Tokens gift card value for a purchase
- National Book Tokens is managed for booksellers, so the business is structured to ensure that it delivers maximum profit, whilst minimising management time
- National Book Tokens are supported by national marketing campaigns throughout the year and bookshops are supplied with free point of sale and display material specially designed to showcase gift cards in shops to maximise customer awareness and impulse purchases.
- Every year National Book Tokens financially support the wide range of Booksellers Association activities – all designed to keep bookselling on the high street
Visit nationalbooktokens.com/trade for more information

Connecting your bookshop with booklovers – for free!

Caboodle, the rewards programme from National Book Tokens, is a free local marketing tool, enabling you to communicate your bookshop’s offers and events to thousands of booklovers, and gift card givers and recipients, near to your shop. Easily and quickly upload attractive offers, such as news of events, author signings, book clubs, free coffee, children's events, discounts or promotions. These will appear:

on the National Book Tokens and Caboodle websites
on the Independent Bookshop Week or Books Are My Bag websites
in our local offer emails which are automatically sent to Caboodle members near your bookshop

As if that wasn’t enough, all bookshops with offers on Caboodle are in with a chance of winning the Bookshop of the Month hamper prize!

Do you have any questions, or want to know more about how to make the most of the programme? Get in touch with Tara and Stacey at National Book Tokens