News
BookEasy and TeleOrdering
February 23, 1998 -- Booksellers will find it even easier
to send orders via the Whitaker TeleOrdering order routing service when it goes live on
BookEasy on 9th March. The BookEasy global Internet service, developed by a consortium of
leading book trade companies, is already starting to revolutionise the relationship
between booksellers and their suppliers and the addition of TeleOrdering will have a
significant effect on the supply chain.
"Speed and reliability of ordering are major factors
in maintaining booksellers' profitability," says Paul Pounsford, Managing Director of
Whitaker TeleOrdering. "By making the TeleOrdering order routing service available
through BookEasy, we can make it even simpler for booksellers to manage their ordering in
their own time from their own PCs."
The BookEasy self service on-line book trade ordering and
enquiry system was designed to help publishers and distributors improve their level of
customer service and fulfillment by allowing booksellers to answer routine queries on
price and availability, to check the status of their orders and dues, and to place new
orders 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Booksellers are finding that BookEasy helps them
manage their businesses more efficiently by timing their enquiries to suit their own needs
and schedules. The addition of TeleOrdering will expand the practical usefulness of the
site for booksellers in the UK and overseas, who will be able to send TeleOrders over the
Internet to any UK publisher or distributor.
BookEasy was developed by VISTA Computer Services in
partnership with Whitaker as service providers, and in cooperation with Macmillan
Distribution, Exel Logistics and Bookpoint. Macmillan was the first distributor to go
live, in September 1997, followed by Exel; the Bookpoint site will go live in the Spring.
A number of leading publishers and distributors are scheduled to join BookEasy over the
next few months.
BookEasy will be demonstrated on the Whitaker stand at LIBF
and regular demonstrations will be held in the BookEasy Cybercafe at the BA Conference in
Harrogate. |
