A renewed focus on books and stationery in the store will be the central pillar of bookstore group Paper Plus’ $22 million rebrand, but the co-operative is also keeping an eye on the online market with plans to launch its first round of internet sales early in the new year.

The rebranding – officially announced yesterday after two years of planning – will see every one of Paper Plus’ 106 New Zealand stores refurbished over the next two years, with the goal of opening another 20 stores over that period.

Paper Plus chief executive Rob Smith told NBR the group’s new focus on books and stationery over its other products was not just confined to the bricks and mortar stores.

He said customers would soon be able to use the company’s website, which also received a facelift yesterday, to purchase books early in the new year, with a plan to offer stationery products soon afterwards.

With the entire book industry still wary of the impact from e-books, Mr Smith said Paper Plus was taking a wait and see approach on that score.

“E-books are on the horizon, but they are such an expensive exercise at this stage and we still don’t know if they will gain real traction here in New Zealand. We’re still keeping an eye on it, but are a long way off from any firm commitments on that score.”

The rebranding exercise may be designed to increase the profile of the co-operative’s books and stationery segment, butt the biggest greeting card seller in the country is not letting that side of the business go out of print.

“We looking to hold that #1 position,” said Mr Smith. “We’ve been working closely with the major card producers to keep that on track.”

Paper Plus was founded 26 years ago and last year had a turnover of more than $200 million, but Mr Smith said it was in a target market of more than $1 billion and the aim of the company’s first rebrand in a decade would be to gain more market share at a time when consumer’s discretionary spending has been tightly squeezed.

He said the plan had gone on a short hiatus last October as the impact of the global recession became clearer, but Paper Plus used the time for further research and customer feedback that led the company to fast-track its development to secure its position in the marketplace.

The group consists of 106 Paper Plus stores, 58 Take Note outlets and two Office Spot stores.

Each store owner is paying for their own store upgrade, but Mr Smith said Paper Plus had sessions with all the major banks at the start of the process and they all signed off on the plan, so funding would not be a problem.

Mr Smith said the speed of the rebranding process was a greater concern than getting the funding.

“To meet that target, we need to open a new or rebranded store a week. But we’ve managed to open two new stores since August, so we’re on target if we can keep this pace up.”