An insight into the The BookDepository’s sucess and the challenges facing online retailers

1. An insight into the The BookDepository’s sucess and the challenges facing online retailers Will Jones September 2009

2. An insight into The BookDepository’s success • Customer proposition • Innovation • A world view • The long tail • Growth • Internal excellence • Community engagement • The future

3. Simple & Unique Customer Selling Points • Access to a unparalleled range of books despatched within 48 hours (over 2.4 million titles) • Free worldwide delivery to over 90 countries • Keen prices

4. The Long Tail Specialist Nielson Bookscan 700k titles sold UK Market ‘07 TBD also 700k

5. Global Supply • Over 50% of sales are international • 130,000 shipments a week to over 90 countries • Customer Service hours 6am-2am 7 days a week • The systems behind The Book Depository supply chain systems are being developed as part of a multi-agent research project at The University of Bath - part sponsored by the Engineering & Physical Research Council

8. Innovation & Excellence • Price checking over 2 million titles per day, and re-pricing according to market conditions, currency and costs in each territory. • Best in Class website – Search, Shopping Basket – Independently measured. • Virtual Warehouse grown to over 2.4 million titles available within 48 hours far surpassing competition. • Free Delivery to over 90 countries, only e-retailer known to do this. • Introduction of additional methods to serve our customers; dollar settlement, Euros, Amex and PayPal. • A simple, no registration required, two page checkout process. Delivering site conversion of over 10%

9. Structural orientation towards • Distribution and supply chain excellence • Ability to deliver robust web solutions quickly • Focus on delivering customer service • Ability to manage pricing models effectively to deliver volume and profit

10. Supplier Matrix Daily Price and Availability feeds Publisher Publisher Publisher Wholesale Suppliers UK Distributors Publisher Publisher Publisher Wholesale Suppliers US Publisher Publisher Publisher Retail Gloucester DC Print on Demand

11. Sales Growth Every year The Book Depository has returned a profit.

15. The Future • Launching of additional tailored international sites for EU/AU/HK • Launching of Espressio, the company that will empower people to publish themselves and sell their own titles inexpensively • BibDib.com – a platform for digital distribution and data handling • Further utilising our core competences to sell additional products to trade and customers

16. The challenges facing online retailers

17. Recession Bounce

18. Value and value add

19. One thing after another Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Dotcom Burst Steady Integration Crisis of retail People accessing and buying Growth in marketing Crisis of service Growth in collaboration Crisis of red tape Growth in consolidation Crisis of control Growth through direction Crisis of trust/confidence Growth through creativity Young 1994 --- 1999 --- 2004 --- 2006 --- 2009 Maturity After Greiner 1972

20. Engagement and Marketing

21. Questions and answers