I would double-down on what we can offer that Amazon can’t: enthusiastic staff that can find and upsell books...
But it's already been proven, sort of, that this isn't what people want, at least in sufficiently large numbers. That kind of underscores the difficulty of recovering this franchise.
And from a different article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/01/waterstones-fi...
"He said book sales were partly being driven by Waterstones’ tactic of allowing staff to stock and push titles they believe would work in their store as well as helping readers discover new or less promoted authors."
What can be easier than using the Amazon search bar? And as far as upwelling goes, Amazon's ML-driven 'suggestions' algorithm results often seem to interest me.
Meanwhile, logging into my Amazon account recommends several books (out of order) in a series, some updated versions of textbooks I once bought, and a few titles I recognize from the NYT best seller list but have no interest in. Since I recently bought one, there are also a good dozen screwdrivers for what Amazon assumes is my burgeoning collection of flatheads.
Also, books don’t cost very much, but they are a big investment in terms of time. Thumbing through the actual book is a great way to make sure you like your prospective purchase. This isn’t quite the same online—Look Inside is carefully metered out so you can maybe get a sense of the books style and level, but it’s often not enough to draw me in.
So they know their strengths for meatspace stores, and supplement that with a good online presence (e.g. same day delivery in this city).
This is Scheltema in Amsterdam btw