Your ThriftBooks Holiday Helper

Our Top 10 Ways to Make the Most of Your Holiday Shopping

It's that time of the year again when the world starts to have some spring in its step. Whether it's running our holiday shopping errands, the excitement of visiting family and friends, or just being at home relishing in family traditions, there is a bustle in the air which makes this time of year incredibly special.

It's no different for all of us here at ThriftBooks. The holiday season brings exciting new releases in books, music, movies, and TV and of course all the much-loved classics coming together to make the holiday complete.

Today, I'd like to provide a bit of Holiday Helper insights for ThriftBooks this season to help you get the most out of your holiday shopping experience.

1. ReadingRewards

If you're not familiar, our ReadingRewards loyalty program is best-in-class and incredibly easy to understand:

1. Free to join
2. Earn points with every purchase. (Our double points promotions help you earn points even faster!)
3. Every 500 points earns you a FREE BOOK
4. There is no limit to the number of free books you can earn!

ReadingRewards has three tiers, each with its own benefits, so your rewards grow over your time shopping with us. We love seeing all the posts on social media when you receive your free books—there is nothing better than books finding homes! Read more about the ReadingRewards program from my post back in April when we relaunched the program with Sweeter Rewards. Who doesn't love free books?

2. A Gift Guide for Everyone

My team and I have created a plethora of gift guides which highlight the latest and greatest selections across a variety of categories and genres. We hand-curated each one and pulled them together into easily shoppable guides. From each gift guide you can easily go to other gift guides by using the navigation located on either the left-hand side, or on top beneath the title if you're shopping in our app.

With a guide for every type of interest, we know you'll find some perfect gift ideas for those on your list.

3. Your Wish List

If you haven't used your account's Wish List, now is the perfect time to give it a try. To put a book on your list, you just click the "Add to Wish List" heart on the product page. When viewing your Wish List, which you can find by clicking the heart at the top of the page when browsing on desktop or under the My Account menu in app, you can create different lists for different types of books. Once you add a book to a list, you can easily configure wish list options like format, condition, price point, and more so that you control what you receive notifications for.

When you put a book on your wish list, we will keep an eye out for it and notify you when it comes in and matches your preferences. With the millions of books we receive and process every week you will be amazed how quickly we come across the book you are waiting for. You can sign up for instant notifications or weekly notifications and when that item does come in, I recommend you purchase it quickly before it sells out again. Last year we made some great updates to our Wish List functionality that you can read more about in this blog.

4. Collectibles

If you haven't browsed our vast collection of rare and vintage books, which we call our Collectibles, now is the perfect time to dive in. Our team of Collectible Receivers do an incredible job of detailing out the uniqueness of these books and highlighting them on ThriftBooks.com for you to discover. Collectible Books make amazing gifts as they truly are one-of-a-kind treasures. Browse for someone's favorite author, genre, or title and you're sure to find a gift idea for even the most un-giftable.

5. New Books

ThriftBooks is not just used books but New books as well. From the latest new releases to the hottest pre-orders, we pride ourselves on giving you a competitive alternative to shopping Amazon for New books. Purchasing New books at ThriftBooks supports the independent bookstore that we are, including all of our 1,000 employees across the country. Two important things to note:

1. All of our New books ship for free! There's no additional shipping charge like other online New booksellers charge.
2. All of our New Books earn ReadingReward points per dollar spent! You will always be earning points towards a free book reward. In some cases, your New book purchase will immediately qualify you for a free book reward!

6. And Beyond Books

Last year, we expanded our offering of products to include New Movies and TV (DVDs, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra), New Music (on both Vinyl and CD) and New Video Games (for Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo). All ship free and all earn ReadingRewards points. If you need some additional perspective on the value that I think physical media can provide, check out my prior blogs on Vinyl and DVDs.

7. e-Gift Cards

Over the past several months, we have worked hard to create an improved e-Gift Card experience and I'm happy to say it is here and ready for you! A few highlights about the new experience:

• You can choose to send your eGift Card via text, email, or print
• You can personalize your message with a picture or even a video message (so much fun!)
• We have a variety of designs for you to choose from

We hope you will enjoy the new experience and consider giving the gift of reading this holiday.

8. ShareBookLove

Reading is an activity that can be enjoyed solo or as part of a group, like a book club. Either way, it is still a very social activity. We all love to share our favorite reads, hear about the favorites of others, and see what is trending in BookTok and other social channels. At ThriftBooks, we love to share our love for books. We want nothing more than to encourage, support, and reward this sharing so we call our Tell-A-Friend program ShareBookLove. We named it that because it's what you are doing—sharing your love for books with others! ShareBookLove is a unique referral program as it provides a FREE BOOK to both you and your friend! Give a book. Get a book. It's super simple to use:

• Go your ShareBookLove page in Your Account
• Copy and share your unique share link with your friends and family.
• When they make their first purchase at ThriftBooks and use your code, you both receive a free book reward!

Simple and rewarding! The best part is there is no limit to the number of free books you can earn. Share with 50 friends and you could have a lot of free book rewards. The holidays are the perfect time to ShareBookLove. If you send someone an e-Gift Card and send them your ShareBookLove link, well...you pretty much guarantee yourself a free book, making that e-Gift Card the gift that keeps on giving!

9. Shop with Confidence

Many of you have shopped at ThriftBooks for years (Thank you!), some of you may have shopped only occasionally, and some have yet to make your first purchase. No matter your journey with us thus far, please know that your individual experience matters to us. It matters to me, it matters to my Customer Service team, and it matters to my peers on the ThriftBooks Executive team. You can read more about our brand promise in my blog from earlier this year.

But don't just take our word for it. We encourage you to browse our Trustpilot profile, an independent third-party resource which collects customer reviews on their experience with us. We have amassed nearly 900,000 reviews and have maintained our Excellent 5-star rating throughout! An accomplishment we are super proud of.

We are also proud of the recognition from the industry. Newsweek has listed the ThriftBooks Customer Service team in the top 3 of their Best Customer Serice Award for the Books industry for four years in a row! Additionally, we have been awarded one of their Best Online Shops for two years in a row, and a Best Trending Shop this past year.

All this to say, you can shop ThriftBooks with confidence. If your experience doesn't live up to our brand promise, let us know. We will do all we can to make it right.

10. Gifts for the Un-Giftables

Finally, we would like to share our new holiday ads! The campaign is called Gifts for the Un-Giftables. You know them, those people who are so incredibly difficult to shop for. We hope you will consider ThriftBooks as the solution for the trickiest on your list. With our over 13 million New and Used titles, there is certainly a perfect gift for everyone here.

We hope this brief overview of all ThriftBooks has to offer was helpful for you today and will continue to be a good resource in the weeks ahead. Happy shopping!

About the Author: Barbara Hagen is the Vice President of Marketing and Sales here at ThriftBooks. She has more than 20 years of experience as a senior marketing executive, with an undergraduate degree in marketing from Syracuse University, an MBA in international marketing from NYU's Stern School of Business, and an MS in data analytics, also from NYU's Stern School.

Read more by Barbara Hagen