Beacon Honours UK's Fastest Growing Online Book Retailer
A Gloucester online book retailer with a larger range of books than Amazon and that uses the latest technology to print one-off editions and lost volumes, has been awarded Beacon status off the back of its innovative approach to retailing.
Although less than five years old, The Book Depository’s widespread implementation of lean manufacturing techniques, pioneering supply chain initiatives, republishing and digitising of content, has made the online business a force to be reckoned with in the publishing world, and brought it to the attention of Beacon South West.
Last year, it turned over £24m, almost double that of the previous year and it is now on course to turnover £36m by the end of 2008.
Beacon South West, a South West of England Regional Development Agency (RDA) funded initiative, brings together the region’s most forward-thinking companies to cultivate excellence within the business community. It currently has more than 205 members, of which 35 are based in Gloucestershire, including UCAS, Corin Group, Prima Dental and Cult Clothing.
Launched in 2004 by two friends, The Book Depository has two million books available for shipping from its fulfilment centre, free of charge. Many of these books are not what you would class as bestsellers.
“We concentrate on the books that are not in those categories, the books that are often difficult to find,” explains managing director, Stuart Felton. “If you want the Top 50 books, you go to Tesco. If you want the Top 1,000, you go to Waterstones. We focus on the rest.”
“Also, we’re not in competition with the likes of Amazon as we have our own USP,” adds Felton. “Of the 30 million titles ever printed in the English language, only about 2.2 million are in print. We are seeking to bring as many of these forgotten titles into circulation as possible and ultimately to have the largest breadth of titles available in the world.” Felton and his colleagues are set to go one stage further with a new self-publishing arm which allows members of the public to publish their own work.
Key to the success of The Book Depository has been its embracement of lean manufacturing. “We run a very tight ship,” Felton explains. “We are a small business, and it is vital that we stay lean to not only be responsive to market needs but also be flexible if we need to scale our operation up or down accordingly. We do not physically store a huge volume of books but using the very latest digital printing techniques, we are able to arrange the reprint of titles within a matter of hours, making us an extremely agile operation.”
The company has also taken an innovative approach to location by basing its IT department in Egypt, where a 45-strong team work around the clock to ensure customers can purchase books no matter what the time of day.
While The Book Depository continues to turn the world of book retailing on its head, its management team is still keen to learn and, in the words of Felton, “take a leaf from the other Beacon South West members. I know a lot of the Beacon companies personally, such as Omega and Renishaw, and to be included among them, especially less than four years since we launched, is a real honour.”
Adds Sue Baker, director of Beacon South West: “Beacon companies must be able to demonstrate outstanding achievement across a range of criteria, including innovation, performance, profitability, culture and business practices. The Book Depository may have only been trading for a relatively short period but it is already clear from its business model that it has really embraced the Beacon ethos.”
