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Customer at computer screen shops for bargain books online.

Benefits of Shopping Online for Bargain Books

April 6, 2017

The trend of shopping online over the last decade has continued to see strong gains, with global online sales growing at an annual rate of 17% by some accounts and much higher for the Asia-Pacific market. Total online spending is expected to reach $3.5 trillion worldwide by 2019, or about 12.5% of total retail sales, according to some estimates.

When I look at my own purchasing habits and those of my family, I can certainly see why the growth has been strong over the recent years and why it will continue for some time into the future. Often times I find myself looking for that one specific item; perhaps it’s a part for the faucet I need to fix or some snorkel gear for a Caribbean vacation, or a unique light fixture for a home renovation project. My wife, on the other hand, enjoys the selection and ease of shopping right from our own home. For her, time is very important as she manages a busy household, and the ability to not always have to visit the store is invaluable to her. Not to mention, she loves being able to order several sizes with the convenience of returning the ones that don’t fit!

Over the past few years and particularly the last year, we have seen an increase in the volume of sales through our website, www.bookdepot.com, as more and more of our customers realize the benefit and convenience of shopping online for bargain books. Below, we’ll explore a few of the advantages together.

It’s often said that in order to find the best books, you have to visit our warehouse. Although we would certainly encourage all our customers to do so regularly to spend time in our showroom and see the beauty of the Niagara Region, the fallacy of this thinking is unless you are physically searching through our warehouse every day, you can never see the full breadth of what we have to offer. Each day we are adding hundreds of new titles to our inventory and the easiest way to keep track of them is by viewing our new arrivals online. You can sort the new arrivals by date, price, quantity, and a host of other filters. Those of you who actively shop this section know that the great titles go very quickly. Here’s an insider tip: we upload all our new releases at 8:45 PM EST, so make sure you’re ready to fill your cart and check out quickly in order to get what you want.

Shopping at our warehouse can be overwhelming and time consuming, but with shopping online you can use our powerful search engine to narrow down and search for exactly what you are looking for, which can save you valuable time. Obviously the convenience of shopping online is a huge factor; not only is it easy, it’s cost effective as well since your travel costs will be non-existent. You can even shop for bargain books in your PJs while enjoying your morning coffee!

A large factor in the overall rise in online sales has to do with the growth of mobile networks and the use of tablets and smartphones for shopping. With the advancement of technology and the increase in screen sizes, it’s easier than ever to place orders online while on the go. At Book Depot we’ve also made shopping online even more straightforward; just over two years ago we completely redid our website, which now features a fully responsive design that adjusts to the device you are using. Now, regardless of whether you are shopping on your mobile, tablet, or PC, you will be able to experience the same great features. With the site relaunch we are seeing an increase in orders being placed from something other than their PC. Here’s another insider tip about shopping our website: consider adding titles to your cart throughout the day from your mobile or tablet when you have a few spare minutes, or as you think about some product you need to fill holes in your store, then at the end of the day take some time to review your cart, add some more titles, and check out. Keep in mind that orders are not confirmed until submitted so it is possible some titles will be sold out by the time you check out.

In addition to some of the benefits outlined above, our website has many other helpful features, such as our Wishlist and Favorites tools. You can use your Wishlist to create a list of the books you are looking for that we don’t have in stock. If we receive a book on your list, you will be notified by email, at which point you can add it directly into your cart. The Favorites section is a great place for keeping track of in-stock books that you want to purchase at a later time. Through the website you can also review your previous orders and check on the status of recently-placed orders. Click here for more information on how to get the most out of Book Depot’s website.

We encourage you to send us your feedback on your experience shopping online for bargain books. You have our commitment that we will always seek out new ways to better your shopping experience by consistently improving our platform and offering the largest selection of bargain books anywhere on the internet.

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Shepherds Fold Inc. sells bargain books to compete with online book prices.

Customer Success Story: Shepherds Fold

March 13, 2017

Shepherd’s Fold Background

Shepherd’s Fold is a Christian store located in Grande Prairie, Alberta, that has been in operation for 30 years. They offer a selection of books, music, and gift items. They began carrying bargain book product in August 2014 and today, their bargain book selection accounts for 15% of their total book inventory. Shepherd’s Fold was looking to add product to their store that would increase their profit margins and help them compete with online book retailers while complementing their values and existing product mix.

Solution

Book Depot’s large selection of Christian books, low prices, and flexible shipping options allowed Shepherd’s Fold to develop their selection of smaller, slow-moving niche sections as well as stock a variety of backlist titles without requiring a large financial commitment.

Results

Shepherd’s Fold saw their total book sales increase by 10% over the previous year with a 16% increase in book sale profits. They have reported that customers frequently purchase a mix of bargain books and regular-priced merchandise and have noted that they can now offer better prices instore than what they have seen online.

56% average margin: Book Depot’s bargain books translate into an average margin of 56%.

22% bargain book sales: Bargain Books account for 22% of Shepherd’s Fold overall sales.

Quotes

“Bargain books allow a huge amount of our store’s inventory to compete with online prices. Shopping in store is now cheaper than buying online!”

“Book Depot’s low prices allow us to carry a greater selection of backlist titles without tying up significant inventory dollars.”

Calvin Smith, Manager – Shepherd’s Fold

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What’s New at Book Depot

February 22, 2017

Two years ago while visiting a prospective university with our oldest son, my wife and I found ourselves in a men’s clothing store that we had paid a visit to a couple years earlier while in the same town. I remembered having a good customer experience the first time and thought I would just pop in for a quick look. Sixty minutes later I walked out with a new suit, two shirts, some ties, and a few other accessories. The gentlemen helping us out was someone I felt comfortable with as he previously owned another men’s clothing store that I frequented close to our hometown. He was also very knowledgeable about his product and took away every barrier for me to buy. Even when I said, “Your store is 90 minutes away and I can’t drive back here next week to pick up the new suit after you alter it,” he said, “No problem, I’ll personally deliver it to your house as I live not too far away.” Wow, now that’s a customer experience, I thought!

Perhaps you have a story of your own that matches an experience like this, or maybe you’ve had an experience that was less than favorable and you would just like to forget it. It may even be possible that you’ve had a bad experience with us somewhere in our history together, and if so, please read on to get to the good stuff and find out why you should try us again.

What’s New

So what’s new at Book Depot? Over the last 6-7 years we have spent millions of dollars investing in our customer experience. It started with a major overhaul of our 450,000 square foot warehouse, as we retrofitted it with over one mile of conveyors to move product efficiently around the warehouse and ultimately out the door to our customers. The impact of this automation has been nothing short of dramatic for the customer experience—we have the best fill rate in the industry at 98.96% and also the fastest order turnaround time, with most orders being shipped in 3-4 business days.

In 1997 we launched the first bargain book B2B website, and today we have the most user-friendly website with the largest selection of bargain book titles anywhere in the world. When the site was redesigned over three years ago it was important that we made the site responsive so that all our customers, no matter the device they were shopping on, would have the same great experience. If you have not been on our website in the last three years, please take a look; I know you’ll be impressed with what you see and the ease with which you can shop for bargain books all from the convenience of your office (or wherever life takes you!) on your PC, smartphone, or tablet.

As I said in the opening part of this article, I was impacted by a particularly amazing team member of the men’s store I visited. I know that today we have the team at Book Depot that can provide that same amazing experience to you. Two years ago we invested in our sales and customer service team and held a two day intensive sales training with John Asher Sales Training. Today, our sales team has a combined experience in the book industry of over 80 years, and along with that comes a wealth of product knowledge. Maybe you’re someone who would rather not shop online—no problem. Give us a call at 1-800-801-7193, ext. 229 and ask to speak to a member of our sales team. Or perhaps you enjoy shopping the website but need some occasional help from a member of our customer service team. Give us a call and I guarantee you’ll be impressed with the level of service you will receive, as we have completely revamped our customer service department by adding new team members and training and empowering them to help our customers. Last year we continued our investment in the sales team with the launch of Salesforce, which will give our people even more tools to grow and maintain excellent customer relations.

As you can see, Book Depot continues to take the long-term view on the bargain book industry. We wouldn’t be investing millions of dollars in our company if we didn’t believe in the future of books or in the future of our company. Rather than taking out as much of the profits as possible, we continue to invest for the long term in order to deliver the best customer experience in the industry. I’m excited to say that we continue to push the limits of technology, and this past year has been no exception as we launched and completed one of our most exciting projects to date. New automated sortation equipment (watch video) enables us to sort more books, process them quicker, and assist us in providing you with an even better selection of titles. However, all the infrastructure and systems are worthless if we couldn’t offer you the quality product that we have. We have agreements in place so that shopping here gives you access to bargain books from all the major publishers and many smaller imprints. During the past two years we added some key new suppliers that have complemented our mix to the point where I am confident in saying that our selection has never been better in the nearly 32 years of being in this business.

Maybe you’ve just had a bad experience with bargain books. If that is the case, consider with me the following for a moment. There is continued good news in the industry about printed book sales being up, the decline of eBook sales, and the overall positive outlook by independent booksellers. We are hearing encouraging reports from many of our customers that business is growing and their customers are delighted to have a local bookstore where they can browse, shop, and generally spend a few hours “hanging out.” As the owners of one retail bookstore ourselves, we have experienced the same trend with year-over-year sales being up strongly. What are we hearing from our customers? They love the personal service—the experience of touching and feeling the printed book while being able to get assistance from our knowledgeable customer service team. They love the ability to just browse around and find new favorite authors or titles they would never have thought to buy online. Oh and most of all, they love the bargains.

Everybody loves a bargain right? As a bookstore owner there’s no one who should love a bargain more than you. As mentioned above it is very encouraging to see revenue growth in the category, but ultimately as business owners you need profitable growth. Top line is vanity, bottom line is reality. Let’s face it, double-digit sales growth is fantastic, but if the bottom line is not moving at the same pace, you’re not happy. And you shouldn’t be. This is where bargain books can help you. With a margin that is often double the margin you can achieve with new books, you cannot afford to be without bargain books in your store. With the advance of smartphones, tablets, and eReaders, we’ve seen many changes in the industry and in our business over the years. However, one thing has not changed: booklovers will never lose the appreciation for the tactile experience of the printed book.

If you’re a long-time customer, thank you for your loyalty and for the trust you have placed in us over the years. If this is your first time back after many years, I would encourage you to spend some time browsing our website so you can see for yourself our large selection and the changes we have made to our business. I’m confident you will find that shopping with us is a way to save time and money, and those are powerful benefits in today’s market. If you would rather not shop via our website, please call us and ask to speak to one of our experienced sales representatives, who would be happy to assist you by tailoring a list of products for your specific needs.

Book Depot is the single best seller in bargain books. Our vast selection of titles and fast processing times make us a valuable one-stop shop, cutting down on your purchasing time and overhead costs. More choice. Less time and cost.

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Estimated Shipping Rate Improvements

February 17, 2017

Have you ever considered how much stuff we all have? Think about it: how many pairs of shoes, shirts, pants, jackets, kitchen appliances and utensils, electronic devices, personal care items, works of art, and pieces of furniture do we own? What about all the things in our garages, storage sheds, basements, closets, attics, and maybe even off-site storage facilities? Most of us have a lot of stuff—especially when compared to our grandparents, for example, when they were our age. A lot of this accumulation of things (wealth) can be attributed to the increased productivity of human activity due to technology. Today, the average person can produce a lot more in a given period of time compared to someone living 100 years ago. Just think about the mobile phone you carry today that has more computing power (and features) than a Cray supercomputer of the early 1990s for a tiny fraction of the cost.

So, what does this have to do with shipping? I’ve been in the ecommerce business since 1996 and despite monumental leaps in technology, the cost of shipping goods has not experienced anywhere near the price-per-performance gains seen in other products and/or services and generally speaking has continually risen year over year. It is no surprise then that our customers, who are shipping relatively heavy goods, are very sensitive to the cost of shipping. For us to be competitive we need to provide great value on books and get them to our customers at the best possible price. This is something we have always striven to do but when it came to our websites, Bookdepot.com and Bookdepot.ca, it sometimes appeared that was not the case. Let’s discuss this by looking at what we have done in the past and what we are presently doing now.

Shipping in the Past (not that long ago):

When you were done putting your order together, you would proceed to the shipping page where an estimated shipping cost would be provided. We offered a disclaimer that this was just an estimate and the final shipping price would be determined once the order was picked and packed. In just about every case, the actual price you paid for shipping was less—sometimes substantially so—than the quote since we didn’t want to quote low and have to go back to you and ask for more money.

The above process worked relatively well for small orders of less than 10 to 15 boxes (depending on where they were being shipped), but if you were ordering a skid’s worth of books the estimated shipping cost was enough to almost make you fall off your chair. Unfortunately for first-time customers, this was probably enough of a deterrent to scare them off from buying from us. Behind the scenes we were estimating the shipping cost based on a per-box rate from our shipping carrier. Each box would be individually weighed, rated, and shipped with its own tracking number. Our shipping department knew for each shipping location there was a break-point where it became more cost effective to ship the order by LTL (less-than-truckload) and would rate-shop the shipment with two to three LTL carriers for the best rate. In most cases, for a medium size to larger order, the actual shipping rate charged would be noticeably less than the website estimate. For example, an estimated shipping cost of $400 to $500 could in reality end up costing $175. While our regular customers understood this, first-time customers clicked away. Generally speaking, it was a poor business practice.

Today:

In searching for a solution, we needed a reliable method of estimating shipping for several variables that included weight, number of boxes and skids, presence of a loading dock, location, and delivery time. The goal was to provide the best possible rate without underestimating the shipping cost. Since many of our internet orders are paid for by credit card via a secure and automated processor, we can’t charge more for the order than the original authorization amount.

After some searching and arm twisting, we managed to convince an LTL service provider to give us access to their quoting system. This service provider has access to several trucking companies that offer coverage across North America. Often a trucking company will have more extensive coverage in certain regions of the continent and hence will offer more competitive rates for that area. The quoting system was made available to us via an API (application program interface) that allows us in real-time to pass the shipping information over and receive back the best rates.

For the first few months, we monitored daily what we were quoted from the service provider via the API against what the order actually cost to ship once it was packed and prepped for shipping. Again, the goal was to quote the best rate without overcharging or undercharging. The monitoring period allowed us to fine tune the quoted rates to the point where we are now 95% accurate in ensuring that what you see is what you will pay. In a few circumstances, the estimated shipping rate shown on our website is still higher than what you will actually pay. This is due to the expertise of our shipping department in identifying a carrier with an even lower rate for selected orders.

The results of these efforts can give you the confidence that the rate we quote you is probably the best rate you will ever find. If you are ever unsure about the rate you are being quoted, please contact our Customer Service Department. They will be pleased to work with you and the Shipping Department to make sure you get the best possible rate.

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The Life Cycle of a Bargain Book

January 13, 2017

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Wooden arch filled with books in book outlet store.

Book Art: Get People Talking About Your Store

December 5, 2016

Book Art

Creating something interesting in-store for people to talk about can increase foot traffic and chatter around your business! Book Art is a great way to achieve this!

Gerry Wikkerink, retired father (and avid woodworker!) of Book Depot CEO Wilf Wikkerink, built this book arch which serves as the entrance to our 40,000 square ft. retail store in St. Catharines, Ontario. The arch has become the subject of many social media posts, contests, and creates an amazing impression for first time customers to the store. We also started a hashtag gallery that can be viewed here, in which customers who visit the store are encouraged to share their picture under our #bookportal.

Check out some other book art below that may seem a little elaborate at first, but use your creativity to see how you could install something on a smaller scale to your store and get your customers talking!

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Book Depot warehouse in Thorold, Ontario.

The Roots of Book Depot

October 14, 2016

Celebrating 30 Years of Book Depot

During my 12 years at Book Depot, I’ve often been asked how the company got started and how long we’ve been in business. My answer is usually something along the lines of: Book Depot has taken many shapes and forms (and names) over the years, but the roots really go back to the year 1985 and the entrepreneurial vision of John Hultink, our company’s founder.

John is one of five brothers who, together with his parents, immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands shortly after World War II, seeking a better life across the Atlantic. Like many immigrant families, those early years were not easy. The language was completely foreign, but work had to be done regardless and children had to be provided for. And yet it’s the immigrant experience that had a pivotal influence on the roots of our company. Sheer determination, a strong work ethic, disciplined financial management, and deep faith in God were the foundations for a young man who had the courage to go into business for himself.

John’s passion for books and his entrepreneurial drive began well before 1985, going back to the early 1970s when he founded a small publishing company that translated Dutch books into English. These books appealed to many immigrant families across Canada who wanted their children to have the same experiences they had grown to know and love as children.

John also developed a passion for real estate early on in his career (from all those years of playing Monopoly) and worked with a developer in his younger years buying and selling real estate during the turbulent ’70s and ’80s. John’s keen eye for real estate deals, combined with his passion for books, laid the solid foundation for what is Book Depot today. Owning rather than leasing valuable real estate has always been important to the success of our company.

In the spring of 1985 John purchased an old winery in the small town of Jordan, Ontario. Ninety percent of the 100,000 square feet was leased out, but a portion was used to sort, store, pick, and ship orders. That same year, John began dabbling in bargain books and operated book fairs for schools, providing them with a fundraising channel. Brother Ben joined the business early on and helped manage the warehouse, while brother Gerrit joined in 1988 to build the wholesale part of the business.

Eventually the building in Jordan was sold to a developer and became an upscale restaurant and inn (Inn on the Twenty) along with multiple boutique retail stores. After outgrowing this location and a few subsidiary locations, the company moved to 340 Welland Avenue in St. Catharines (106,000 square feet) in 1994 and the company name became Book Depot. With the move to Welland Avenue, Jason Hultink joined the business full time that same year after graduating with a Bachelors in Business.

Book Depot Welland Ave original storefront — Welland Ave Original Storefront

Throughout the 1990s the company operated many temporary stores in the Greater Toronto Area, especially during the fourth quarter of each year, opening up as many as 50 locations. Opening that many stores in such a short period of time was obviously challenging and a logistical nightmare. One that wasn’t always entirely successful. There had to be a better way than opening that many temporary locations in such a short period of time, and that better way ultimately turned out to be the internet.

In 1997 Bill Van Vliet joined the business after having successfully launched Book Depot’s first retail website (bookexpress.com), the same year that Jeff Bezos went public with Amazon.com (interesting fact: $1,000 invested in 1997 with Amazon’s IPO would be worth $236,635 today!). Bill’s background was in Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, having worked in the IT industry for 12 years before joining Book Depot. In 1997 Book Depot launched bookdepot.com, the first B2B website in the bargain book industry, and continues to set the standard by which other websites are measured.

Once again, with his passion for real estate and a vision to grow the business, John Hultink spearheaded an effort to purchase 67 Front St. North in Thorold, Ontario, a huge industrial building on 14 acres of land. After approximately 12 months of retrofitting and renovations that included the removal of 300 tractor trailer loads of scrap steel in 2003, the company relocated its head office and distribution center to this renovated paper mill, which today has over 450,000 square feet of usable space. As a result of this expansion and the growth of the online business, the company shipped over ten million units annually for the first time in 2005. With the move of the wholesale division of the company to Thorold, the location at Welland Avenue was converted into a gigantic retail store.

In May 2005, Wilf Wikkerink joined the business after spending nine years at Legacy Entertainment as a Partner and the Operations Director. Wilf, together with Terry Perusini (President), built and successfully sold in 2001 one of the industry’s leading budget music companies to a UK-based company.

With a desire to grow the business and improve operational efficiencies, Wilf directed a couple of strategic acquisitions and a move towards automating the warehouse. In 2009, the company acquired a 50% interest in TB Clarke Book Bargains in Sydney, Australia, a bargain book wholesaler who serviced the Australian and Southeast Asian market. In April 2010 Book Depot acquired 28% of the share capital of Make Believe Ideas, a growing children’s publisher in Berkhamsted, UK.

September 2010 marked the beginning of Phase 1 of a two-year multi-million dollar automation project that significantly improved efficiencies within the warehouse and dramatically upgraded our ability to process orders quicker and more accurately. With the completion of Phase 2 in December 2011, the company now had over one mile of conveyor, a 33,000-square-foot, three-level mezzanine, 20 packing lanes for our wholesale business, and automated packaging for our direct-to-consumer customers. The 18-month project was a challenging undertaking that placed a lot of stress on the business, but it also laid a stronger foundation for the future growth of the business and prepared us for the expansion in 2016.

Book Depot Conveyor System — Conveyor System

Book Depot Packing Stations — Packing Stations

In 2013 we added Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) racking in 25,000 square feet of our warehouse, which allowed us to efficiently store 3,050 pallets in a very small space. Regrettably, 2013 also saw the closure of TB Clarke Book Bargains in Sydney, Australia, bringing to an end our investment in that market.

That same year, however, witnessed the excitement of rebranding our direct-to-consumer banner under the name Book Outlet (bookoutlet.com) after having operated as Book Closeouts (and earlier as Book Express) for the better part of 15 years. As part of the rebranding, our 40,000-square-foot retail store (bookoutlet.ca/store) in St. Catharines underwent a significant renovation. A grand reopening held in September 2013 celebrated the occasion (watch video). Later that same year in December, Book Depot purchased the intellectual property of Toots Books, a publisher with a unique line of 3D tactile books. Today the company operates the brand under the banner Ruckus Books and is primarily involved in custom publishing.

March 2015 marked the divestiture of the share capital of Make Believe Ideas to Scholastic, the world’s leading children’s publisher (read press release). Wilf Wikkerink has continued on in his role as a director of the company and enjoys working with Joanna Bicknell, the passionate founder, creative dynamo, and Managing Director of Make Believe Ideas. Joanna continues to expand the company by developing product that pushes the boundaries of creativity.

In the summer of 2015, Book Depot made the bold decision to approve an additional capital expenditure of several million dollars for a Bombay Sorter from Eurosort (watch the sorter in action). Additional conveyors were added to integrate the new sorter and two robotic arms used for stacking totes. A first in the bargain book industry, the sorter enables us to sort more books, process them quicker, and assist us in providing our customers with an even better selection of titles that are more relevant than ever.

What’s in store for Book Depot in the next 30 years? With a certainty that the printed book has a long life ahead of it, we look forward to continued innovation and growth in our business. We are confident in the future of books and the book industry, but ultimately our trust and our faith lie not in the things we possess, but in our Heavenly Father who guides and directs us.

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Bargain books displayed on table in bookstore.

Top 3 Reasons You Should Sell Bargain Books

August 24, 2016

When I was asked to write an article about why a bookstore should be selling bargain books, another question actually came to my mind first: “Why would you NOT sell bargain books in your store?” Maybe the reason this question popped into my head is that I have been selling bargain books to bookstores and various retail accounts for almost 20 years, but it is one that is worth exploring. From speaking with many booksellers over the years at numerous trade shows I have heard many concerns about bargain books, the most common being they will cannibalize front-list sales, don’t support the authors via royalties, are “used” and “dirty,” or bookstores don’t want to sell what someone else could not sell.

I will respond to all of these objections as I present to you the top three reasons why you should be carrying bargain books in your store.

1. Bargain books mean higher margins

The typical margin you get from the publisher is 50%. If you decide to give the title a discount to keep up with the sale prices on Amazon or one of the other large retail chains, you will continue to eat into that margin. And then there is your cost of pulling it off the shelves, packing it back up, and sending it back to the publisher for a credit if it does not sell. It might not have been a bad book; you may have just overestimated your market or could not compete with large retailers like Costco or Sam’s Club that are selling it at cost. From the research we have done with many of our customers, we can see that bargain books sell at a profit margin of anywhere from 60-75%.

Years ago, many stores would simply double their cost, add a bit for shipping, and priced accordingly. However, with the great selection that is available and by testing their market by finding the right niche pricing, many retailers are finding the sweet spot for pricing is in the 65% margin range. Even with the slightly higher retail price, the “bargain” price is still such a great deal that their customers keep coming back for more. I am not telling you to convert your entire store over to bargain books (although you certainly could), but even if you dedicate just a table or two or a couple of shelves and create this “ongoing event” inside your store, you will soon see it is your store’s most profitable section. As one veteran bookseller once told me, the front-list product they carry is pretty much a break-even proposition, but bargain books are where the profit is!

2. Everyone loves a bargain

Bargain books give your customers more reasons to come to your store regularly. I am sure you have a loyal following of regular customers and avid readers who stop by every week or two to pick up something new to read, but you probably also have those customers who only show up when the newest book from their favorite author is on sale or they are just tracking the latest fad in books, like adult coloring books, for example. A vibrant, well-stocked bargain book section will create another reason for the money-savvy buyer to visit your store faithfully. And on this point, I want to debunk the stigmas that bargain books are “damaged” or “used and dirty” books. Our bargain books are store returns and are in perfect selling condition. The only difference between bargain and brand new product is the small mark the publisher puts on either the top or bottom edge of the book to ensure the product cannot be returned to them for credit a second time. The books are otherwise in excellent condition, and with the great prices that your customers are getting, they won’t even notice that small mark! Our damage claim for Book Depot customers is 0.07%! That is a staggering number. When you order from Book Depot, you can be confident that your books will be of the best quality and packed with care. Consider taking your two least productive sections in your store, downsizing them, and creating a vibrant, fast-moving, value-priced book section in their place.

3. The selection is absolutely fantastic

Finally, I want to fill you in on all the great books you will find at Book Depot daily and also dispel some of the myths about why selling bargain books will cannibalize your front-list sales. As I have been selling bargain books for almost two decades I can confidently say that the selection, quality, and quantity of titles at Book Depot have never been better. We have over 50,000 titles across 56 different categories, and hundreds of titles being added daily that you can view on the “New Arrivals” page of our B2B website. Publishers are just like every other business in that they are under pressure to cut losses and increase profits. For many years some of the big publishers would not sell off their unsold titles, but that is all changing. What they are noticing is that bargain books are just a small part of this very large industry and it is not affecting their front-list demand by releasing some of these unsold or returned books.

So who benefits from this? The publishers now see some cost relief by selling their returned or unsold books, and the wholesalers benefit by getting lots of great books to resell to you, the book retailer, who is next in line to benefit by getting these titles to sell at a much lower price. Lastly, your customers will benefit by getting fabulous books at even better prices! The quality and quantity of the product are truly amazing. I could go on and on about all the great books we have in stock right now, but I think you would be better served to see for yourself by visiting our web site and browsing the new arrivals, or asking one of our sales representatives for a list of our bestselling titles.

Now that you can see all the benefits, what about that scary concept called cannibalization? Guess what? Bargain books do not cannibalize sales of frontlist product! Let me explain. We all have our favorite authors who we love to read and cannot wait until their next release is available. Would you risk waiting six months to a year after a new release to see if you might be lucky enough to pick up a bargain copy? Not likely! Even I have my favorite authors whose books I buy at the release date even though I know we will probably get a bargain copy of it someday. But here is the flip side of this view. Maybe there is a book or an author who you were interested in reading but never had the time or just could not justify spending the money on something you were not sure about. Imagine this now: you can pick up a copy from a great bargain table for only $5.99. Worth the risk? (Yes!) And if you really liked it, do you think you will pick up the new release when it comes out in September? How many loyal fans of authors may have been converted by picking up a bargain copy off a sale table? And once they are hooked, they will keep coming back for more, both frontlist and those unexpected finds on the bargain table. So now you have a happy customer, an additional sale that you might not have had before, and a new fan of an author who is going to likely buy their new releases going forward, which will benefit both the author and your store. What could be better than that? Are we not all trying to get more people interested in reading, trying new books and authors, and promoting the literary culture? I know bargain books are a vital component of that and I hope you will give them a try!

Rick Mechelse

Senior Sales Representative

Book Depot

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Streaking car tail lights on road at night.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow!

July 19, 2016

Get Your Bargain Book Orders in Early for Q4

The “dog days of summer” are upon us. Most of us still have our thoughts on our recent vacation or maybe we are still looking forward to one coming up. School days will be here before we know it and as the days get shorter and the nights get cooler, the reality sets in that the fourth quarter will soon be here! The summer days will disappear so quickly it’s as if they’ll be gone tomorrow.

The last three months of the year are a make-it-or-break-it time for most retailers, and booksellers are rarely an exception. Publishers are ramping up their big author releases for this time of the year. Stores start to extend their hours of operation. Black Friday (or Cyber Monday) can’t get here soon enough. So what can you do in the lazy, hazy days of late summer to prepare yourself for the fall season?

Here is one tip that I can share with you: don’t wait until the last minute to stock your shelves with great bargain titles that you hope to sell during the run into Christmas. The nature of bargain books is that they are here today and gone tomorrow. A savvy bargain book buyer is checking in on a regular basis with their supplier to see what is new and exciting. Book Depot is unique to most bargain book suppliers in that we are adding hundreds of new titles to our inventory every day. That is not an exaggeration. From the day that I am writing this blog I have gone back four days through our New Arrivals page on our website and we have added 184, 208, 186, and 235 new titles respectively to our inventory. These numbers just represent the titles that are still available with inventory, so if you add on the ones that are already sold out and have been removed, they would be even higher. And with the changes we have recently made in our sorting capabilities, we are looking to get those numbers even higher still.

Get Them Today, Before They’re Gone Tomorrow

So why not take a look every couple of days, or at least once a week, to see what’s new? Put in an order and take advantage of our consolidated shipping options or get it delivered to you right away, whatever you prefer—but don’t wait! I hear it so often from my customers that they load up their cart with all kinds of great books and then leave it for a couple of days only to come back and find that all the titles they wanted the most have already been snapped up. How sad is that? While everyone else is still in holiday mode, take the opportunity to get your orders in early and have the best selection possible for Q4. Just because those titles are here today does not mean they will be available a month from now, a week from now, or even tomorrow. Grab them while you can!

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Robotic sorter machine in Book Deport warehouse, Thorold, Ontario.

Press Release: Book Depot Betting Big on Its Returns Business

April 20, 2016

Originally posted on Publisher’s Weekly on April 19, 2016 “Book Depot Betting Big on Its Returns Business“

By Judith Rosen

One of the largest bargain book wholesalers in North America, Book Depot, continues to be bullish about its returns business. The Ontario, Canada-based company is completing a $3 million project to add a large-scale mechanical sorter, robotics, and supporting technologies that will enable it to make book returns easier for publishers and retailers.

With the new equipment, which will be in use by May 24, Book Depot said it will be able to sort through the books that arrive at its warehouse—excess inventory and returns shipped by publishers—at the fastest pace in its 30-year history. The new equipment will enable Book Depot to sort more than 100,000 books per day, and free up 70,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space.

“While some bargain book wholesalers have scaled back or shuttered operations,” said Book Depot CIO and managing partner Bill Van Vliet, “[we] continue to invest in people and operations.” He went on: “As our tagline states, ‘The largest selection pays,’ and we are intent to over-deliver on that promise.”

Book Depot is the first company in the bargain book business to use state-of-the art automation to sort incoming inventory. The new equipment will enable the company to offer more publishers the option to outsource their returns processing to its facility.

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