Booktopia
 | |
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 (Director and Founder) Wayne Baskin (CTO) Ainsley Henderson (CFO) Tania Johnston (Sales & Marketing Director) Phillip Haddad (COO) |
| Industry | Bookselling, online shopping |
| Products |
Books DVDs eBooks Stationery Magazines Games Puzzles Toys Cameras Optics Greeting Cards Audio Books |
| Revenue | $85,000,000 |
| Employees | 125 |
| Divisions | Booktopia, Angus & Robertson Bookworld |
| Subsidiaries | Angus & Robertson Bookworld |
| Website | Booktopia.com.au |
| Launched | 4th February 2004 |
Booktopia Pty Ltd is an Australian online bookseller.[1] Founded in 2004, it now turns over $85 million a year,[1] and was listed in BRW’s Fast 100 for five consecutive years, from 2009 to 2013.[2] In 2013 Booktopia was voted 'Australia's Favourite Bookshop' in a poll run by the Australian Booksellers Association.[3] Booktopia has stated that Australian authors and titles is a key focus for the company.[4]
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. The business started as a side project by Tony working in the evenings and weekends while the family ran their internet marketing consultancy during the day out of a 60 square metre (600 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 (4,500 square feet) in Artarmon, bought some shelves on eBay and hired a warehouse manager. In 2009 Booktopia moved to 2,000 square metres (20,000 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 (20,000 square feet) down the road.
In 2014 they moved to 10,000 square metres (100,000 square feet) and implemented $4 million worth of automation, conveyors, automatic packing machines and scanners.
In August 2015 they bought the Angus & Robertson Bookworld business off Penguin Random House. [5] Sales revenue for the 2015/16 financial year are on track to reach $85 million per annum. They hold 120,000 in stock titles ready-to-ship and sell one item every 8 seconds.
Booktopia is the only company ever to make the BRW Fast 100 for 6 years in a row from 2009 to 2014. In 2014 Booktopia won the Telstra Medium Sized Business Award for NSW. 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.
Booktopia also bought an online camera and optics company in 2015 called Dirt Cheap Cameras.
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.
- ↑ Jason Steger. "A one-off winner?". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
- ↑ 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.