Page 27 - November-December Together

TOGETHER NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2021
Ingram Content Group

A guide to working with and understanding Ingram Content Group. FEATURE

Ingram Content Group Explained
Those who have worked in the book trade for any length of time
will have come across the various trading arms of Ingram Content
Group. They provide services across the world and to all aspects of
the publishing and bookselling trade. The breadth of their services
continues to grow. Together magazine brings together Andy Bromley
from Ingram Content Group, Andrew Lacey from The GLO Bookshop,
Motherwell, and Joy Vee, author, to explain the background and
opportunities that this organisation can offer the Christian book trade.
An overview of Ingram Content Group
Ingram Content Group (‘Ingram’) connects readers around the world
with content in all forms by providing comprehensive services for
publishers, retailers, authors, libraries and educators. Here we will
breakdown the core parts to the business and how this supports
our industry.
®
As the publishing and book distribution part of the business expanded, Ipage was introduced by Ingram as an online stock ordering and
one of the notable acquisitions in the mid-1990s was Spring Arbor inventory system more than twenty years ago and is being constantly
Distributors, a well-established book wholesaler to the Christian US upgraded. It is a superb tool for investigating availability of a wide range
market and beyond. Spring Arbor Distributors continues as a trade of Christian and general book titles. A recent addition to ipage is the ability
name of Ingram Content Group, providing stock and services to the to place print-on-demand orders from the Milton Keynes facility over the
American Christian book trade. internet, with single books being despatched to retailers and authors
within a few days, with no carriage charges.
ICG were early adopters of the print-on-demand revolution, opening
the first US facility in 1998. A print-on-demand operation was set A retailer’s perspective – Andrew Lacey- The GLO Bookshop,
up in the UK in 2001 with a state-of-the-art facility in Milton Keynes. Motherwell
This provides a wide range of printing and publishing services within When I started at The GLO Bookshop in 2003, the ability to order from
the UK. The ability to print-on-demand enables publishers to maintain Ingram in the USA via ipage® was an eye-opener. The whole idea of
availability of books in a more cost-effective way while keeping a being able to see warehouse stock levels in real time, from one side of
wider range of titles available to its customers and to maximise sales the pond to the other, seemed incredible! And the speed of delivery was
opportunities. POD also facilitates more global distribution options and amazing, taking only five to seven working days for delivery. In those days,
the ability to print closer to the customer resulting, in most cases, in many UK warehouses wouldn’t have been able to get stock to us in those
faster delivery and reducing the environmental impact of putting a book timescales. We continue to use Ingram USA warehouses on an occasional
on a plane or ship. ICG also moved into a more traditional warehousing basis, mainly to fulfil customer orders when these aren’t readily available
model in the UK with the purchase of the former NBN International from UK distributors. Since the minimum order is ten units, this gives us
distribution centre in Plymouth in 2017. This centre now provides the opportunity to scroll through the excellent sales information provided
services to the UK book trade as Ingram Publishing Services. by ipage and add a few newer items that haven’t yet arrived in the UK.
There is, of course, a price premium to be paid in terms of shipping
ICG also provide a programme to help independent authors bring smaller quantities. However, we can normally speak to our customers and
their books to market, known as IngramSpark. With the rise of self- explain the circumstances - they are usually understanding and happy to
publishing, this provides a significant ‘retailer friendly’ alternative to pay over the RRP.
Amazon-based author services.
A mention must go to the fantastic Bible search facility on ipage. Because
the American market is so much bigger than the UK market, there is an
enormous range of Bibles available there. The Bible search function is
extremely powerful and gives the ability to search many different options.
The bibliographic information is usually superior to other search engines
available. The ipage Bible search gives quality images to show to the
customer, along with information about print sizes. I use the function to
search and check to see if any of the possible options are available in UK
wholesalers before ordering from Ingram USA. For example, a customer
was looking for a Bible with music notes on the cover, which was available
within the Zondervan Artisan range.
Over recent years, we have found the services provided by Ingram UK
(traded by Ingram Content Group UK Ltd using the Ingram’s POD service
Lightning Source) invaluable. Many of the titles we might have ordered
from Ingram US are now available from the Milton Keynes facility, and this
has led to a decline in the number of times we need to order from Ingram
US. The ability to order single titles has been a real help, and the quality of
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