With the holiday shopping season well underway, Ingram Publishers Service is confident that it is well-positioned to meet the needs of its publisher clients as well as those of independent booksellers. Ingram bought the distribution arm of Perseus Books Group in March and has been integrating its operations with those of IPS under the direction of Jadah Hawkins, v-p of business operations for IPS.
The company crossed a major milestone October 1, when all books that had been distributed by Perseus were made available through the Ingram distribution network. At that point, booksellers were able to receive direct distribution discounts on orders, and IPS orders could be combined with wholesale orders for free freight.
Since that time and up through the beginning of the holiday selling season in mid-November, IPS had been testing and modifying its systems to work out any glitches, explained Hawkins. That work seemed to pay off, as Hawkins reported that over the Thanksgiving weekend Ingram encountered no major issues. Since the integration was completed, IPS has taken order from more than 1,000 independent indie booksellers, Hawkins said.
As part of the integration, all books that are distributed by PGW, Consortium, Perseus Book Distribution, and Legato are now in stock in Ingram’s four warehouses, which are located in Roseburg, Ore., Chambersburg, Penn., Ft. Wayne, Ind., and La Vergne, Tenn. With that being the case, 98% of booksellers will receive orders within three days, Hawkins said.
To ensure they receive orders by Christmas, booksellers should place all orders by December 14, although the company will be able to fulfill expedited orders placed by 11 a.m. on December 22.
