News

Broadman & Holman to Provide Internet Customer Self-Service to Religious Booksellers

Trade Division of World's Largest Christian Publisher Logs On To BookEasy

Nashville, TN, -September 3, 1998 -- Broadman & Holman, the trade publishing subsidiary of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, and BookEasy, the Internet self-service inquiry and ordering service for booksellers and the publishing industry, announced today that they will launch the Broadman & Holman BookEasy web site this Fall. Broadman & Holman join BookEasy in the US as the second major partnership in addition to Von Holtzbrinck Publishing Services.

Broadman & Holman and BookEasy will offer booksellers 24-hour/7-day free access to real-time operational data for title, price and availability inquiries as well as ordering and order status inquiry capabilities for all Broadman & Holman products, including books, Bibles, videos and church resources. This alliance will impact almost 3,000 booksellers.

"Our decision to join the BookEasy service is a response to the customer service needs of our network of retailers," explained Mark Lusk, Director of Marketing for Broadman & Holman. He also points to the time retailers will save using BookEasy for self-service to address routine inquiries. Lusk said, "Internet accessibility to our book, Bible, video, gift and church supply products is a crucial component in our commitment to customer service, as well as providing retailers with increased awareness of the broad range of products we produce to meet the needs of their customers."

"Broadman & Holman realize the importance of continuous improvement in customer relationships and service. They are uniquely positioned to impact the flow of information to the religious bookselling community over the Internet. BookEasy is very pleased to have them on board," said Peter F. Clifton, Chief Executive Officer of BookEasy.

Broadman & Holman joins the Von Holtzbrinck Publishing Services companies (Henry Holt, Farrar Straus & Giroux, St. Martin's Press, and Tor, among others) in the US. In the UK, BookEasy partners currently include Macmillan Distribution, Bookpoint, Exel Logistics, Marston Book Services, Littlehampton Book Services, The Book Service (Random House UK, Little, Brown, and Grantham Book Services), and HarperCollins UK. Over 500 publishers and imprints are represented on BookEasy.

BookEasy is the first open standard e-commerce Internet service designed specifically for the publishing community including; booksellers, publishers, distributors and wholesalers. BookEasy is located in Somerset, NJ and Northwood, England, and is a division of VISTA Computer Services, the worldwide leader in information systems for the publishing industry. BookEasy was created and developed by VISTA Computer Services together with J. Whitaker & Sons, Ltd., BookEasy's partner in the UK for central site bibliographic and TeleOrdering services.

Broadman & Holman is a leading Christian publisher, offering books, videos, gifts and supplies to buyers of every age around the world. The publisher's mission is to touch and change lives, as well as produce quality product.