Bookspeed celebrated its thirtieth year of trading with a staff party at Edinburgh Botanical Gardens recently.
Since its inception, the company has continually adapted to the changes in book publishing and retailing, always reflecting the interests and trends of the time, and becoming a trend setter itself in developing new markets for books in partnership with non-traditional retailers from small independent gift and visitor shops to large UK and international chains.
After a period of restructuring its sales operation, repositioning its place in the market and the successful installation of a sector-leading transactional website, in early 2015 an ambitious programme was implemented to see fifty percent growth in sales by 2020. More than a twenty percent increase has been achieved in the first year alone, in a plan expected to deliver small increases initially before loading growth in its final three years.
The recent growth is predominantly in book sales although the company has recently added two ranges of prestigious gift and toy ranges to its offer. Bookspeed began working with Egmont Toys of Belgium two years ago and is now also the authorized UK trade distributor for the complete Heico lamp range. Donkey Products, the winner of 2016 German Brand Award, appointed Bookspeed its UK distributor in January this year, attracting considerable interest at the Spring gift shows. Distributing gifts and toys offers existing Bookspeed customers a chance to buy more from a trusted supplier and opens up new markets for book sales.
Sales Director Fiona Stout reports ‘These are very exciting times for the company. We have an excellent in-house sales team backed up by our experienced supply and marketing infrastructure, great support from supplier-partners, and have invested in a larger, new design-led presence at trade shows. Continuing investment in increased warehouse capacity and digital and traditional marketing means that Bookspeed will remain at the forefront of book sales expansion’.
