Booktopia

Booktopia Group 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 seven times from 2011 to 2018. Booktopia has stated that Australian authors and titles are a key focus for the company.[5] The company also owns Angus & Robertson, a major Australian online bookseller, publisher, and printer.

Booktopia
Type of businessPublic
Type of site
E-commerce
Available inEnglish
Traded asASX: BKG
Founded4 February 2004
HeadquartersLidcombe, New South Wales, Australia
Country of originAustralia
Founder(s)Tony Nash
Simon Nash
Steve Traurig
Key peopleDavid Nenke (CEO)
Fiona Levens (CFO)
Scott Verrall (COO)
IndustryBookselling, book distributor, book publisher, online shopping
ProductsBooks
DVDs
eBooks
Stationery
Magazines
Audiobooks
Calendars, diaries, journals
Revenue$240 million (FY22)
Employees260
SubsidiariesAngus & Robertson
The Co-op Bookshop (online only)
URLwww.Booktopia.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. They started on a $10 per day budget and took three days to sell the first book, but then the business grew rapidly.

In the first three years, all of the website and fulfilment were outsourced, but in 2007, the founders decided to build their own website and do their own fulfilment. In 2014, Booktopia moved to a larger space in Lidcombe and implemented $4 million worth of automation and machinery.

Investment in automation has increased to $22 million as of 2020. At Christmas 2019, the distribution centre was inbounding and out-bounding up to 38,000 individual items 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), 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's publishing business Booktopia Publishing was launched in 2019. It publishes authors from Australia and around the world.

In 2020, Booktopia launched a joint venture with Rakuten Kobo to provide eBook and downloadable audiobooks through the Booktopia/Rakuten Kobo app.[9]

Booktopia's philanthropic program has donated over $1 million worth of books and cash to literacy based projects including indigenous literacy. It has sponsored writers' festivals, readers conferences,[10] book awards,[11][12] library fundraising projects[13] and many other school fundraisers. In 2020 it purchased The Co-op Bookshop's on-line business from its administrator.[14]

Booktopia listed on the ASX in December 2020 at an issue price of 2.30 AUD.[15] From a high of 3 AUD in August 2021, the company's share price steadily crashed to reach 0.17 AUD in June 2022; Booktopia suggested this was due to a decline in business faced by online retailers after the lifting of pandemic restrictions.[16]

CEO Tony Nash sold $6 million worth of his shares on December 6 2021, shortly before the company announced it was anticipating a drop in earnings.[16] Amidst investor ire over the timing of this sale as well as plunging earnings, in May 2022 Nash announced that he would be stepping down from his role as CEO once a replacement had been found.[17] In July however, the company's board forced Nash to step down earlier than expected, appointing CFO Geoff Stalley as his interim replacement.[18] In August, Nash announced that he intended to spill the board, hoping to remove the chairman and other members.[19] In late August, the company was also forced to pay $6 million by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission on the grounds that it had misrepresented consumers' rights to refunds and returns.[20]

References
  1. Cathy Morris. "Booktopia writing its own success story". Daily Telegraph. 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. "2019 Winners Announced". abiawards.com. 2 May 2019.
  5. Cathy Morris. "Australia's Amazon: How Booktopia grew from a $10 budget to a $40 million book business". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  6. Grant Arnott (6 February 2020). "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 6 September 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  8. Jason Steger (16 August 2013). "A one-off winner?". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  9. Stark, Leigh :) (2 November 2021). "Kobo, Booktopia team for all-you-can-read eBooks". Pickr. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  10. "2017 Awards: winners". Australian Romance Readers Association. 5 May 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  11. "Booktopia to sponsor the 16th Davitt Awards for best crime books". Sisters in Crime. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  12. "'Creating Cities' wins 2016 Most Underrated Book Award | Books+Publishing". Books + Publishing. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  13. "Booktopia joins Library and Information Week 2018 | Australian Library and Information Association". www.alia.org.au. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  14. "Co-op bookshop to disappear from university shelves". 31 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2021. Sydney Morning Herald 31 January 2020
  15. "Booktopia completes ASX listing; closes at 17% above issue price". Books+Publishing. 4 December 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  16. Danckert, Sarah (24 June 2022). "(Book)dystopia: How Australia's biggest bookseller went from hero to villain". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  17. "Booktopia chief executive Nash resigns after earnings plunge in third quarter". The Bookseller. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  18. Danckert, Sarah (14 July 2022). "Booktopia co-founder Tony Nash ousted from CEO role". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  19. LaFrenz, Carrie (18 August 2022). "Booktopia co-founder seeks to spill the board". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  20. Ogg, Matt (29 August 2022). "Booktopia agrees to fork out $6m in penalties over misleading returns claims to customers". Business News Australia.
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