Media focus on books and authors provides additional momentum at CB

About 'Bookspotters' and smart logistics

Every day we 'pick' hundreds of thousands of books at CB for booksellers and consumers. In different quantities (from 1 copy to hundreds), bestsellers, niche titles, with a choice of over 110,000 titles. Each book should be for 'grabs'. These numbers call for smart logistics. How do we do that?  We give you a quick look behind the scenes. 

Media attention and sudden surges

Consumers and booksellers can order until 23:00 for a next day delivery. Order behaviour changes every day. Media coverage also has a direct impact. Has a book or author been on a popular talk show? If so, that’s immediately reflected in the orders. We don’t always know that media coverage is planned, so we have to act quickly to make sure that these books are up for grabs.

To have these titles available for order processing, day and night, automation is a must. We calculate the current stock levels at various pick warehouses, so that new stock is delivered on time from the bulk warehouses. Restocking occurs about nine times a day. 

Bookspotter

Our logistics approach is advanced and automated, but there are always opportunities for improvement, particularly when it comes to stock availability late in the evening. That’s why we created the role of Bookspotter for the team that ensures inventory accuracy and stock availability. This team checks websites and Twitter accounts of television programmes: are there any book reviews or comments in the media about authors or people relating to the book?

If we observe media attention, we move stock of the titles concerned from our bulk warehouses to the pick warehouses. We don’t wait until actual orders arrive and automated systems to do their work.

Since the role of Bookspotter, in 50% of the cases, more copies of a spotted, moved title have been processed. The right title "up for grabs": a guarantee of reliability.