Alibris Celebrates 10 Years of Supporting Independent Booksellers
Online book, music, and movie marketplace remembers achievements since 1998 while planning future accomplishments
EMERYVILLE, CA—November 19, 2008—Alibris, the premier independently owned and operated online global marketplace for new, rare, and used books, CDs, and DVDs, announced their 10-year anniversary with a celebration of past milestones and a look ahead to succeeding over the next 10 years.
Today, Alibris joins forces with over 12,000 independent sellers around the world, offering more than 100 million books, CDs, and DVDs. "We're proud of the sales we've helped deliver to our independent sellers over the past decade," said Brian Elliott, President & CEO of Alibris. "Our sellers offer affordable prices on used books and provide an amazing selection to our buyers and partners—an attractive offering in today's challenging economic environment."
Launched in November of 1998, Alibris began as an online retailer focused on helping its customers to use the Internet to find hard-to-find books. Cofounded by Dick Weatherford, a long-time antiquarian bookseller, and Martin Manley, Alibris spent its early years building an identity as the best place online to locate out-of-print, rare, and antiquarian books.
In the years since then, Alibris has worked with sellers to encompass not only hard-to-find books but also affordable and highly sought-after new and used books, as well as new and used textbooks, movies, and music items. Alibris has also built the most extensive partnership list with leading media retailers like Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com, and others.
"When we started Alibris, we turned a number of elements of the traditional model on their head—and learned what worked, and what did not," Dick Weatherford said. "We've listened to what our independent sellers have wanted, and we've changed a lot since our early days."
Weatherford illustrated Alibris's remarkable growth by supplying a list of the company's accomplishments from the past ten years:
- Supported more than 20,000 independent sellers from more than 80 countries who have sold their books, textbooks, music, and movies on Alibris.
- Sold more than 35 million books, music items, and movies. Alibris's annual growth has averaged 34% per year, with more than 20% of Alibris's first decade of sales happening in 2008 alone.
- Found great buys for more than 15 million readers in more than 240 countries.
- Helped more than 20,000 librarians find books that they needed for their collections, patrons, faculty, and students.
- Brought to 25 business partners the selection needed by their best customers. These partners range from large U.S. retail chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders to Canada's Chapters/Indigo, Japan's Kinokuniya, and Blackwell U.K., plus wholesalers like Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Dawson's in the UK.
With this track record, the company was purchased in 2006 by Oak Hill Capital Partners, which infused the online marketplace with enough resources to make the last two years its most groundbreaking and impressive yet. Alibris is now poised to begin 2009 with plans to turn past accomplishments into future growth.
"Since starting business in 1998, we've built a sizable, profitable player in online bookselling," said Elliott. "We invested in a powerful Web site, established a top-notch group of employees, delivered excellent customer service, build an expansive network of business partners , and united millions of buyers with thousands of sellers—and we will continue to do so in the next ten years and beyond."
About Alibris
Alibris is the premiere online destination for new and used books, music items, and movies, as well as rare and out-of-print titles. We connect people who love books, music, and movies to the best independent sellers from 45 countries around the world. Our proprietary technology and advanced logistics allow us to offer more than 100 million used, new, and out-of-print titles to consumers, libraries, and retailers, which include Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Blackwell U.K., Books-A-Million, Borders, Chapters/Indigo, and Half.com. Founded in 1998 and acquired by Oak Hill Capital Partners in 2006, Alibris was named a "Fast 50" and a "Technology Fast 500" growth business by Deloitte. Alibris is a registered trademark.
