Fernand Ernster, pictured in the eponymous company’s flagship bookstore in Luxembourg City Library photo: Edouard Olszweski

Fernand Ernster, pictured in the eponymous company’s flagship bookstore in Luxembourg City Library photo: Edouard Olszweski

In an annual KPMG report on top local brands for customer experience, Luxembourg bookstore chain Ernster consistently places among the top players in the country even if its general manager long didn’t think of the family name as a brand.

“I was surprised that we were being considered as a brand,” said Fernand Ernster, who leads the family business, recalling the publication of the first report in 2018. “We are an old business; we have a certain name, but because I carry the name myself, I never had this perception of the brand.”

The bookseller ranked at the top of the first two editions of the survey, slipping into third place in 2020 and 2021, overtaken by banks and insurance companies. An unnamed “leading online retailer” scored 10th and this despite the rise of online shopping during the pandemic.

Ernster, too, offers an online shop, which gained in popularity last year. People who already had an account with the shop switched to digital, for example. “There is a risk with a company that is this old that it starts gathering dust,” Ernster said. “We managed to stay on the ball.”

Customer priorities

While customers cut companies some slack because of the pandemic, they have since “reverted to their initial pre-covid high expectations.” Across the board, the nine sectors of the economy assessed performed less well in this year’s survey compared to last year.

People have emerged from the pandemic with new priorities, Ernster said, including where and how they spend their money. “It’s interesting, because a customer who complains is interested in you doing something about it, to satisfy them but also so that this doesn’t happen again next time they visit.” Ernster said customers want to stick with their local suppliers but, in return, demand good service.

Founded in 1889 in the capital, the bookseller recently opened its tenth shop in the country. “People were really happy to return to real shops,” Ernster said of the end of lockdown, adding that the company’s online trade would never replace its “brick-and-mortar” stores. 

A universe of books

When the company moved into the Belle Etoile shopping centre in 1988, it was obligated to advertise, a novelty for the business at the time. “Today, we are a brand,” said Ernster, the result of a process that has seen the company review its visual identity and adopt the slogan “L’esprit livre”, the spirit of books.

This spirit aims to offer everything that is connected to books, from the process of writing--with the company also selling stationery--to the books themselves but also “the worlds that you delve into,” Ernster said. “It’s a universe.”

Delving into the e-book market, however, is a challenge for the business. The popular Tolino e-book reader--available from booksellers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy--doesn’t work in Luxembourg for licencing reasons, and the country faces similar issues with options available in France or Belgium.

But paper books have also held a special appeal since the pandemic, Ernster has found. “People have had to spend so much time on their screens. What is better than a book for a digital detox?”