Nielsen Book, part of global information and media company Nielsen Company, US, has announced new developments and a significant expansion to its flagship books ordering service, BookData Online. The upgraded service will allow users to access one exclusive source of comprehensive and accurate book information with sales ranking alongside ordering tools; and functionality that provides a one-stop service for booksellers, libraries and publishers.
Effectively, subscribers to the service can search the Nielsen Book bibliographic database, and select and sort titles by BookScan sales ranking. Titles can be ordered and tools used to track these orders and to review order history. Real time supplier data from participating distributors allow booksellers to check price and availability information.
BookData Online will effectively replace the previous ordering service provided by BookNet Web as clients will be migrated to the new platform over the coming months. Both services are powered by BookNet TeleOrdering. The new service is seen to offer a substantial benefit to book buyers, who now have the opportunity of accessing all these functions in one service - login. BookNet TeleOrdering can then route all orders quickly and efficiently to 60,000 suppliers worldwide.
The enhancement to the service is projected to allow retailers to streamline their processes and decision making, and to improve customer service. BookData Online also allows booksellers to receive order acknowledgements from 17,000 suppliers, many of whom now provide this information via the BookNet Web Online Order Collection Service launched two years ago.
For acquisition and cataloguing, Nielsen Book allows librarians to search and rank by sales position to find the right selection. They can use this information to guide their purchasing decision based on which titles are selling and their sales position that week. Librarians can also download MARC records (direct to their desktop) in MARC21 or UKMARC to either fill gaps in their catalogue or a full file for complete catalogue records - from a single source.
Publishers can also use the service to check title records, pricing and information about forthcoming publications up to 12 months ahead, allowing them to plan their releases to achieve maximum sales and review coverage.
