Predrag Djurkovic, owner and general manager of DATA STATUS, talks about his business as a publisher and bookseller in Serbia.
Where is DATA STATUS? In Serbia. Our bookstores are in Belgrade, our main office is in New Belgrade and we have a warehouse in Kula.
How large are the shops? One shop is 140m2 and the other 30m2.
How many people work there? Six people work in the shops and there are 30 on other locations.
What kinds of books do you sell? Academic titles, textbooks, children books, medicine, economics, business, sport and lifestyle. We are specialists in foreign books and books for learning and teaching foreign languages.
How long have you had the business? For 22 years. At the beginning only as a bookseller of foreign titles, but today as a leading academic publisher in Serbia.
Where do your customers come from? Our customers are academic institutions, schools, libraries, bookshops and students as well as individual customers.
How do you feel about the current state of the book trade in Serbia? Do you feel optimistic or pessimistic? We are trying to be optimistic, it’s difficult and unpredictable.
What do you most enjoy about being a bookseller? Being useful. Helping the customers to get what they need. We are happy to improve knowledge and education.
Is there anything that you don’t like about being a bookseller? Websites for selling second-hand books, illegal photocopies and book prices that are too high for our market.
How do you choose which books to stock? We choose new editions from the publishers and we choose by looking at our statistics, listening to our customers, watching the bestseller lists and by reading book reviews. 
Do you organise events in your shop, such as book signings? Yes, but not very often.
Which books are selling well at the moment? Academic books (medicine), textbooks, children books.
Do you sell books online? Of course, you can order on our website www.datastatus.rs.
How do you get your books from the UK? We use Worldwide Book Services.
Batch and Your Business
How long have you been using Batch? We have been using Batch for 12 years.
Does Batch help your business? It helps us a lot. It helps us in cost savings, by making one payment for a lot of publishers. We can also see the exact status of our account – there is no need for us to communicate with credit controllers.
DATA STATUS d.o.o.
Milutina Milankovica 1/45
11070 Novi Beograd
Serbia
Tel: +381 11 3017832
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.datastatus.rs
