Jim Ulsamer of Baker & Taylor discussed how wholesalers fulfill orders for consumers on behalf of retailers, usually Internet sellers but also some catalogue companies and a few bricks-and-mortar stores. Until the advent of Internet bookselling such one- and two-book orders were something "we tried to stay away from," he said, but now "we want to pursue them."
Wholesalers offer many advantages to the online booksellers by providing such services, he continued: full-service wholesalers like B&T have an extensive database or licence a database; they can pick in bulk and sort later in the warehouse; they can provide sales and coop reporting; they can do account
management; they are transparent to customers; they can ship orders in one box. Usually for e-tailers, wholesalers are cheaper, faster, more flexible and dependable. They also can deal with the cycles of the business. Internet retailers who do their own order fulfillment generally like to do because they want a sense of control and security, although companies like Baker & Taylor keep all information confidential, he emphasized.
