INDUSTRY RETURNS INITIATIVE

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Industry Returns Initiative is a project set up by the Publishers Association and Booksellers Association to automate the handling of returns in the book trade by transferring the responsibility for returns authorisation, previously held by publishers’ sales management according to their own returns policies, to industry-standard rules embedded in distributors’ fulfilment systems.

The process has been widely adopted by the UK book trade and is currently implemented by Macmillan Distribution, Littlehampton Book Services, Random House Distribution, HarperCollins, Penguin Group, Bookpoint and Gazelle Book Services. Booksellers may take advantage of fast returns authorisation from these suppliers by joining Batch returns.

The benefits of the initiative include the speed of authorisation and processing of returns, the ability to consolidate returns requests by distributor, and standard parameters for authorisation by all participating distributors.

For further information on the project, contact info@bic.org.uk.

Standard criteria and conditions for overstock returns

The new returns process: information for booksellers

Tackling Returns - KPMG Report, August 1999

Tackling Returns - outcomes from Eynsham Hall