Booktopia

Booktopia Pty Ltd is an Australian online bookstore.[1] Founded in 2004, it now turns over $165 million a year,[1] and was listed in the AFR/BRW's Fast 100 eight times, the only company to ever achieve this feat, from 2009 to 2017.[2][3] In 2016, 2017 & 2019 Booktopia was voted 'Bookstore of the Year'.[4] In 2018 it won NSW Telstra Business of the Year and the Australian Telstra Business Award People's Choice Award. It has been a finalist in the Telstra Business Awards 7 times from 2011 to 2018, the only company to achieve this feat. Booktopia has stated that Australian authors and titles are a key focus for the company.[5]

Booktopia
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
E-commerce
Available inEnglish
Founded4 February 2004
HeadquartersLidcombe, New South Wales, Australia
Country of originAustralia
OwnerTony Nash
Simon Nash
Steve Traurig
Founder(s)Tony Nash
Simon Nash
Steve Traurig
CEOTony Nash
Key peopleSteve Traurig (CCO)
Wayne Baskin (Deputy CEO & CTO)
Ainsley Henderson (CFO)
Steffen Daleng (Chief Marketing Officer)
Orson Tonkin (Head of Supply Chain & Logistics)
Jo Lewin (Head of Trade Product)
Tracey Mills (Head of Academic & Corporate Sales)
Michelle Rowe (National Sales Manager)
Alex Huntley (Head of Customer Experience)
Jonathan Seifman (Head of Booktopia Publisher Services)
Franscois McHardy (Head of Booktopia Publishing)
IndustryBookselling, book distributor, book publisher, online shopping
ProductsBooks
DVDs
eBooks
Stationery
Magazines
Audio Books
Calendars, Diaries, Journals
Revenue$165,400,000 (FY20)
Employees260
DivisionsBooktopia, Angus & Robertson, Booktopia Distribution Services, Booktopia Publishing
SubsidiariesAngus & Robertson, The Co-Op Bookstore (online only)
URLBooktopia.com.au
Launched4 February 2004

Booktopia completed a $20 million capital raise at the beginning of 2020.[6]

History

Booktopia was founded on 4 February 2004 by Tony Nash, Steve Traurig and Simon Nash in Sydney, Australia. Tony started the business as a side project, working in the evenings and weekends while the family ran their internet marketing consultancy during the day out of a 60 square metre (660 square feet) office in North Sydney.

It took 3 days to sell the first book as the company was started on a $10 per day budget. After the first month sales were $2,000. By the 4th month sales were up to $30K per month and by the end of the year $100K per month. By the end of 2 years it was $200K per month.

The first 3 years all of the website and fulfilment were outsourced to another company and in 2007 the founders decided to build their own website and do their own fulfilment. They moved to 450 square metres (5,000 square feet) in Artarmon, bought some shelves on eBay and hired a warehouse manager. In 2009 Booktopia moved to 2,000 square metres (22,000 square feet) in Lane Cove as their commitment to hold more stock and the growth of the business meant they had run out of space. In 2011 they leased a further 2,000 square metres (22,000 square feet) down the road.

In 2014 they moved to 10,000 square metres (100,000 square feet) in Lidcombe and implemented $4 million worth of automation, conveyors, automatic packing machines and scanners.

In 2016 they increased their space when an adjoining building became available adding a further 3,000 square metres and added another 1,000 sqm mezzanine. Total space is currently 14,000 square metres (154,000 square feet).

Investment in automation has increased to $22 million as of 2020. At Christmas 2019 the Distribution Centre was in bounding and out bounding up to 38,000 individual items per day. The recent investment in 2020 will enable the business to inbound and outbound 60,000 physical units per day.

In August 2015 Booktopia bought the Angus & Robertson business from Penguin Random House.[7]

Sales revenue for the 2019/20 financial year were $165.4 million per annum. They hold 148,000 in stock titles ready-to-ship and sell one item every 6.1 seconds.

In 2018 Booktopia won NSW Business of the Year at the Telstra Business Awards and at the Nationals they won the People's Choice Award.

In 2016, 2017 and 2019 Booktopia won National Book Retailer of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards. This award is voted on by publishers, authors and other industry experts.

Booktopia is the only company ever to make the AFR/BRW Fast 100 for 8 years from 2009 to 2017. The company has won countless other awards including Australia's number 1 online bookstore and is currently Australia's Favourite Bookstore as voted by the Australian public.[8]

In 2017 Booktopia launched Booktopia Publisher Services (BPS). This is a book distribution business where publishers appoint BPS to be its distributor for Australia and New Zealand. Some of the publishers that have appointed BPS as its ANZ distributor are Sage, Corwin, Human Kinetics, Kogan Page, Rebel Girls, O'Reilly, New Harbinger, Oxford University Press (specific international titles), SPCK, Moody Publishers, Chelsea Green Publishing, Thieme and many others. Over 600 bookshops and businesses buy books through BPS.

Booktopia Publishing was launched in 2019 and is Booktopia's publishing business. Authors from Australia and around the world are being published through this business. Titles from Stan Lee, Patricia Cornwell, Joanne Harris, Dr Howard Chilton, Hanny Alston, Brian Smith, Tim Ash, Carly and Seb Moone are some of the first authors to be published under the Booktopia Editions imprint.

In 2020 Booktopia launched a joint venture with Rakuten Kobo to provide eBook and downloadable audiobooks through the Booktopia/Rakuten Kobo app.

In 2020 Booktopia will be opening a new facility down the road from the current warehouse. It is operated by computerised machines that seek to increase productivity and reduce damages.

Booktopia's philanthropic program has donated over $1,000,000 worth of books and cash to literacy based projects including indigenous literacy. It has sponsored writers' festivals, readers conferences,[9] book awards,[10][11] library fundraising projects[12] and many other school fundraisers. In 2020 it purchased The Co-op Bookshop's on-line business from its administrator.[13]

References
  1. Cathy Morris. "Booktopia writing its own success story". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  2. "Booktopia's 10th Anniversary Celebration". Powerretail.com.au. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  3. "Booktopia makes 'AFR' Fast 100 for the eighth time". Books + Publishing. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  4. {{Cite news|url=https://abiawards.com.au/2019-winners-announced/%7C
  5. Cathy Morris. "Australia's Amazon: How Booktopia grew from a $10 budget to a $40 million book business". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  6. Grant Arnott. "Online retailer Booktopia raises $20 million for growth capital". power retail. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  7. Keating, Eloise (3 August 2015). "Tome raider: Booktopia buys Bookworld and Angus & Robertson". Smart Company. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  8. Jason Steger. "A one-off winner?". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  9. "2017 Awards: winners". Australian Romance Readers Association. 5 May 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  10. "Booktopia to sponsor the 16th Davitt Awards for best crime books". Sisters in Crime. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  11. "'Creating Cities' wins 2016 Most Underrated Book Award | Books+Publishing". Books + Publishing. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  12. "Booktopia joins Library and Information Week 2018 | Australian Library and Information Association". www.alia.org.au. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  13. "Co-op bookshop to disappear from university shelves". 31 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2021. Sydney Morning Herald 31 January 2020
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