SWOTBOOKS


Swotbooks has used ICT to create a virtual retail business that never
touches the products it sells and has no warehouse or shops.

Best practice in:   Technology
Sector:             Bookselling
Size of firm:       7 employees
Location:           Witney, Oxfordshire
Website: www.swotbooks.com


OBJECTIVES

The company is the embodiment of a successful e-business:
using ICT it is challenging the incumbents in a market by
creating a completely new business model.
Swotbooks sells academic textbooks to students online at
discounted prices. While other online booksellers had proved
successful and students were receptive to e-commerce, campus
bookshops still accounted for most sales of textbooks.
Swotbooks' founders saw that by using e-business solutions
they could sell cheaper than campus stores, while a specialism
in academic books could provide an edge over the larger online
booksellers. The other major advance was a decision not to hold
any stock and to outsource dispatch.
This stripping away of all but core functions allows the business
to focus on offering value added customer service, while its
electronic links to suppliers provide the cost savings to undercut
competitors. As David Taylor, Chairman and Founder of
Swotbooks, says: "We don't physically touch any books, so we
don't have any costs associated with holding stock or hiring
premises. This is all about technology changing the nature of
the supply chain. It has enabled us to cut costs and reduce the
cost of books to a market that is very price-sensitive."
The company and its suppliers have access to each other's
systems and have automated a huge amount of the stock
ordering and payment processes. "Our connections are
completely online," says David. "We receive stock updates daily,
which update all 1.2 million of our records on our database.
We send orders through electronically every 15 minutes,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The wholesaler then locates
the book, packages it and sends it direct to the customer."
The company has also started to work directly with a number
of publishers, who provide information about best sellers -
information which they can use to plan their marketing activities.


THE BENEFITS

If Swotbooks was a bricks and mortar bookstore, it would only
be able to stock about 200,000 titles. Its ingenious business
model allows it to offer over 1.2m titles in the UK alone, without
having to store or package a single book.
The company is also able to manage customer service far more
efficiently than other bookstores. By automating all manual tasks
and ensuring that an order can be progressed electronically,
it has been able to migrate staff towards customer-focused roles.
"Technology allows us to grow without having to employ new
staff - we can deal with queries more effectively and provide
information for our customers," explains David.
Swotbooks is only in its third year of trading but is already an
established player. Its year on year growth rate is currently 300%.
The company has also been adept at using its technology to
develop profitable partnerships. It runs Alpha bookstore with
UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, which
has tremendous credibility and brand recognition among
undergraduates. It is also pioneering ebooks in the UK, by
partnering with the US market leader.


THE CHALLENGES

According to David, the biggest challenge "is getting the right
mix of in-house skills - understanding what you want and how
your ICT can help you get it." To this end, the company has
employed a blend of staff with technical and bookselling
expertise. They've also taken a pragmatic attitude towards the
implementation of new technology, establishing back-up
systems and carrying out extensive testing to minimise
implementation risks.


THE LAST WORD

Swotbooks' experience shows how vital it is to consider ICT as a
part of the business strategy. Its virtual business model, reliance
on electronic data interchange (EDI) and network of partnerships
has given them a market-leading position and leaves them wellplaced
to adapt to future changes in the bookselling market. For
example, Swotbooks already has the infrastructure in place to
accommodate planned investment by the Bookselling
Association in EDI to enable booksellers to pay publishers.
"E-business is an integral part of what we do and a central part
of our business plan," says David. "Managing technological
change isn't a problem - we've grown up with it."

"Our business is all about technology and we couldn't
function without it."

DAVID TAYLOR - CHAIRMAN