INTERFORUM – EDITIS, a book distributor for more than 300 publishers and 13,700 points of sale, called on AZAP, publisher and integrator of software for controlling and optimizing Supply Chain flows, to implement a new Shared Store Supply Management service. This fruitful collaboration allowed the brands concerned to increase their market share by 6 points, while reducing the returns and the level of stock in the same proportion. The second largest book distributor in France, with a 20% market share, INTERFORUM – EDITIS manages the distribution of publications from 55 internal publishers, but also those of 277 publishers outside the group, through exclusive agreements. These books are distributed to retail customers (Carrefour, Leclerc, etc.), specialized distributors (Cultura, King Jouet, Fnac, Relays, etc.) and bookstores (Kleber, Mollat, etc.), for a total of 13,700 points of sale, but also via e-platforms.commerce like Amazon. The distributor initiated its collaboration with AZAP in 2019 to meet the challenges of the book market and stand out from the competition by developing a customized Shared Supply Management (GPA) platform. It relies on AZAP to calculate the restocking of shelves within different target stores that are the subject of a progressive deployment plan. To do this, it must take into account multiple factors that impact forecast sales such as life cycles of works, assortments affected by types of stores, market fluctuations, events, etc. A successful project since the brands that have entrusted the management of their restocking to INTERFORUM x AZAP have managed to increase their market share by 6 points, while reducing the returns and the stock level in the same proportion.
A globally stable, competitive and constrained market
Traditionally stable, the book market experienced strong growth in 2021, and has stabilized around €4 billion since. In a sector where 84% of in-store purchases are impulse, anticipating sales is a major challenge. The reduction of space reserved for these works for other products, the growing competition from new players, and the impossibility of implementing pricing strategies «stressed the crucial need to focus on the essentials and optimize restocking», says Lionel Pereira, Head of Surrogacy at INTERFORUM. To develop the business of its customers and provide support to booksellers, as well as sales representatives, INTERFORUM decided to set up a Shared Supply Management service for points of sale. And he chose to work closely with AZAP to completely rethink its distribution strategy and create a brand new replenishment calculation model.
The solution: Custom Shared Supply Management
To boost the sales of its customers, INTERFORUM has therefore set up with AZAP, a customized Shared Supply Management (GPA). This approach involves calculating replenishment thresholds based on sales per item, per store and per day to cover requirements until the next delivery, taking into account inventory. The platform aims to maximize customer sales. Taking into account assortments by store type, the time of year (ex: Christmas) and external events impacting book purchases (ex: new series broadcast on Netflix), the tool perfects its replenishment calculations and adjusts them at each point of sale.
A winning choice: the first results
Through this strategy, INTERFORUM has seen concrete results:
- An increase of 6 points in cash receipts, highlighting a significant increase in sales;
- A significant reduction in returns by 6 points;
- A 6% drop in stocks in stores.
This tailor-made approach has also had a positive impact on the satisfaction rate of booksellers, strengthening INTERFORUM’s relationships with its business partners and attracting new brands for the year 2024. With the integration of these new brands, Noriana de Joybert, AZAP Project Manager anticipates: “Our next challenge is to turn to further automation. This means adding more sophisticated business rules to better anticipate market trends.” Thus, the distributor plans to set up automatic alerts triggering orders according to established forecasts, allowing proactive inventory management and real-time adaptation to changes in the book market.
