Founded in 2002 as a hobby business, Australian online bookstore Boomerang Books was the brainchild of ex-Army officer Clayton Wehner and his wife Jodi.
Founded in 2002 as a hobby business, Australian online bookstore Boomerang Books was the brainchild of ex-Army officer Clayton Wehner and his wife Jodi. A keen website builder in his spare time, Clayton sought to combine his interests in books and the internet, and Boomerang was born. Six years later, Clayton has resigned from his ‘day job’ and is concentrating on developing and growing Boomerang Books, along with several other web pursuits.
Unlike most bookstores, Boomerang’s proprietors never see a book – their business is purely ‘virtual’ and is operated from their Adelaide home. Sydney-based book fulfilment company Seekmedia.com is responsible for maintaining the Boomerang online database, for dispatching orders to customers, and for customer service.
Clayton is responsible for the bookshop’s ‘front end’ website and marketing the Boomerang brand. According to Clayton: ‘Marketing an online business - in what is a very competitive marketplace - is the real challenge for us. This is particularly the case given the dominance of Amazon.com in this space and with new innovations by Australian online booksellers, such as Dymocks’ recent adoption of electronic book technology. We’ve found that offering quality Australian book content, including reviews and book news, and having regular ‘Discount Days’ has resulted in a loyal following of customers. But there is still much work to do.’
To keep pace with its better-resourced competitors, Boomerang will undergo some major changes in 2008 including a cosmetic design change in February. Expect to see some major innovations and web functionality improvements in the latter half of 2008.
Top Ten Books for December 2007
1. The Dangerous Book for Boys - Conn Iggulden & Hal Iggulden
2. Your Brick Oven - Russell Jeavons
3. Spotless - Shannon Lush & Jennifer Fleming
4. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
5. Carpentaria - Alexis Wright
6. Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
7. More Wealth from Residential Property - Jan Somers
8. The Game - Neil Strauss
9. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
10. Shared Parenting - Jill Burrett & Michael Green