Booktopia
 | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
Type of site | E-commerce |
| Available in | English |
| Founded | 4th February 2004, same day as Facebook |
| Headquarters | Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Owner |
Tony Nash Simon Nash Steve Traurig |
| Founder(s) |
Tony Nash Simon Nash Steve Traurig |
| CEO | Tony Nash |
| Key people |
Steve Traurig (CCO) Wayne Baskin (Deputy CEO & CTO) Ainsley Henderson (CFO) Steffen Daleng (Chief Marketing Officer) Orson Tonkin (Head of Logistics) John Purcell (Director of Books) Tracey Mills (Head of Academic & Corporate Sales) Alex Huntley (Head of Customer Experience) |
| Industry | Bookselling, online shopping |
| Products |
Books DVDs eBooks Stationery Magazines Audio Books Calendars, Diaries, Journals Cameras Optics |
| Revenue | $115,000,000 (FY18) |
| Employees | 190 |
| Divisions | Booktopia, Angus & Robertson Bookworld |
| Subsidiaries | Angus & Robertson Bookworld |
| Website | Booktopia.com.au |
| Launched | 4th February 2004 |
Booktopia Pty Ltd is an Australian online bookstore.[1] Founded in 2004, it now turns over $100 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 Booktopia was voted 'Bookstore of the Year'.[4][5] In 2014 it won Telstra Business of the Year for NSW Medium Sized businesses. It has been a finalist in the Telstra Business Awards 7 times from 2011 to 2018, the only company to achieve this feat. In 2018 it won NSW Business of the Year and National People's Choice Award. Booktopia has stated that Australian authors and titles are a key focus for the company.[6]
History
Booktopia was founded on the 4th February 2004 by Tony Nash, Steve Traurig and Simon Nash (the same day that Facebook started) 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. Total space is currently 13,000 square metres (140,000 square feet).
Investment in automation has increased to $10 million. At Christmas 2017 the Distribution Centre was in bounding and out bounding up to 32,000 individual items per day.
In August 2015 Booktopia bought the Angus & Robertson Bookworld business from Penguin Random House.[7]
Sales revenue for the 2017/18 financial year were $114 million per annum. They hold 150,000 in stock titles ready-to-ship and sell one item every 6.9 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 and 2017 Booktopia was voted Bookstore 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]
Booktopia's philanthropic program has donated over $750,000 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 2015 Booktopia also bought an online camera and optics company, DC Cameras & Optics.
References
- 1 2 Cathy Morris. "Booktopia writing its own success story". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
- ↑ "Booktopia's 10th Anniversary Celebration". Powerretail.com.au. 2014-02-05. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
- ↑ "Booktopia makes 'AFR' Fast 100 for the eighth time". Books + Publishing. 2017-11-14. Retrieved 2018-07-05.
- ↑ "A&U, NewSouth win industry awards at 2016 ABIAs; Szubanski's 'Reckoning' named Book of the Year". Books + Publishing. 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
- ↑ "Pan Macmillan, NewSouth win industry awards at 2017 ABIAs; 'The Dry' named Book of the Year | Books+Publishing". Books + Publishing. 2017-05-26. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
- ↑ Cathy Morris. "Australia's Amazon: How Booktopia grew from a $10 budget to a $40 million book business". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
- ↑ Keating, Eloise (2015-08-03). "Tome raider: Booktopia buys Bookworld and Angus & Robertson". Smart Company. Archived from the original on 2015-10-28. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
- ↑ Jason Steger. "A one-off winner?". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
- ↑ "2017 Awards: winners". Australian Romance Readers Association. 2018-05-05. Retrieved 2018-07-05.
- ↑ "Booktopia to sponsor the 16th Davitt Awards for best crime books". Sisters in Crime. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
- ↑ "'Creating Cities' wins 2016 Most Underrated Book Award | Books+Publishing". Books + Publishing. 2016-11-11. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
- ↑ "Booktopia joins Library and Information Week 2018 | Australian Library and Information Association". www.alia.org.au. 2018-03-16. Retrieved 2018-07-12.