BTW News Briefs

BISG to Present Information Session on Batch.Co.UK

The Book Industry Study Group is inviting members to a free information session on Batch.Co.UK, a service designed to help the book trade reduce overheads in the supply chain by improving communication between suppliers and their customers and providing organizations of all sizes the opportunity of the advantages of trading electronically. Batch also provides a single payment solution. Booksellers make a single payment that covers payments to all their suppliers. Suppliers receive a single payment from all their customers.

The presentation, featuring Fraser Tanner, managing director of Batch.Co.UK, will be held on July 20, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Random House's offices (1745 Broadway, 14th Floor, Dr. Seuss Room) in New York City.

BISG members who are planning to attend should RSVP to [email protected].

Castle Harlan Completes Purchase of Baker & Taylor

On July 5, Castle Harlan, Inc., the New York-based private equity firm, announced that it had completed the acquisition of books and entertainment products distributor Baker & Taylor. The value of the transaction was approximately $455 million. Baker & Taylor, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, was acquired for Castle Harlan Partners IV, L.P., a $1.2-billion limited partnership. Castle Harlan invests in controlling interests in the buyout and development of middle-market companies in North America and Europe.

Gary Appel, Castle Harlan vice chairman who led the transaction team, noted the company's strong and consistent pattern of growth, especially in its premier library-based business and the increasingly important direct-to-home distribution for Internet retailers.

"Both are service areas that management expects will continue to show solid gains in the years ahead," Appel said in a statement. He added that the "experienced and effective management team," headed by Richard Willis, president and chief executive officer, will remain in place and continue to hold an ownership stake in the company.

E-Commerce Drives In-Store Sales

A recent report in the online publication Globe St. noted that online sales are growing at an annual rate of "between 20 percent and more than 25 percent per year," but that several studies indicate that this online growth is helping, rather than hurting, stores' retail sales volume.

According to the ninth annual State of Retailing Online study from Shop.org, conducted by Forrester Research, total online sales are projected to reach $211.4 billion this year, an overall increase of 20 percent compared with 2005, and a doubling of total online sales from just three years ago, Globe St. reported.

According to JupiterResearch analysts, when total Internet sales are "combined with those that are encouraged by the Internet, but transacted in stores, they conclude that 27 percent of all retail sales are influenced by retail websites. Furthermore, they predict that the Internet will influence nearly half of all retail sales by 2010," Globe St. reported.