Minimum lovable product

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development.

A minimum lovable product (MLP) is an MVP with more attention to the design and user experience. It aims to solve the same problem, but also to delight.

In the context of an English language bookstore, the challenge it faces is that it will never be the MVP. That role is taken by digital platforms such as Apple iBooks and Amazon Kindle, which offer digital versions of each title, minimizing cost and maximizing convenience. A bookstore cannot compete on these axes, so if we are to succeed, it will have to be through an minimum lovable product.

So how can we make customers/users love us more than iBooks or their Kindle? I'll spend the rest of this post describing the current MLP in my mind.

A cafe/bookshelves reading environment

These days, the convenience of iBooks has induced me to read during my commutes and downtimes at the office. I can't remember the last time I actually sat down with a cup of coffee and dove into a book for 2-3 hours.

Reading in a cafe amongst bookshelves is a categorically different experience - perhaps the difference between a solution and a beloved solution.

Save on buying your own digital copies

I'd say that most people can understand paying for a physical copy of a book - but paying nearly the same price for a digital version just seems like a racket. I still feel that way.

What if your friendly neighborhood bookstore has a few Kindles and iPads and obtains a digital copy of the book you want to read - before you arrive? This has several benefits:

• You don't need to buy the book.
• Since the bookstore now owns a digital copy of the book, all future customers can read it.
• The bookstore's collection of digital books would grow at a much faster pace than any individual's digital collection.

We buy all your second-hand English books

Amazon and iBooks don't buy back your books, but we do. In doing so, we also sell second-hand books for well under the price of any new version.

Community

Joining a foreigner community of avid readers would be quite interesting, as I doubt this currently exists in Shanghai. Book clubs could spontaneously form, and users could share what they're currently reading.

There's just one requirement to joining: donate a book first.

I'm not sure whether the above can combine to form an MLP. At least it's worth testing!