BetterWorldBooks
It is perhaps unsurprising that the best examples that are, or are close to, enlightenment are in the B2C sector.
BetterWorldBooks (BWB) is an online book retailer which integrates social and environmental impacts into the heart of its business model. With over two million titles in stock, the business sells new and used books online and uses a percentage of its revenues to fund literary initiatives worldwide, diverting millions of books from landfills in the process, and offering consumers value for money.
The business model is based around the fundamental idea that books have an intrinsic ongoing value. By collecting unwanted books and using the internet to find people who will pay for them, they are able to generate a profit, promote worldwide literacy and recycle books all at the same time.
The company has also signed up as a ‘B Corporation’, committing to meeting comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards and incorporating the interests of employees, community and the environment in corporate governing documents.
With such strong social and environmental credentials, the company is also able to tap into consumers’ growing passion for ethical action. This benefits both the supply side of the business, with much of the stock coming from buybacks and donations, and on the demand side, as consumers support the ethical contribution BWB makes over traditional bookstores or retailers such as Amazon.
The commitment to having positive social and environmental impacts runs throughout the business. In addition to receiving funding, the company’s worldwide literacy partners will this year receive an equity stake in the company. The business has created 200 full-time jobs, with employees receiving healthcare and benefits. In Indiana a shuttle service is being started to reduce the environmental impact of multiple cars being driven to work and save employees money at the same time. They even have an organic garden, where employees can spend their lunch break and, if they want to pitch in, take home some of the produce.
The business model works. From the start BWB was a for-profit company which, still very much in growth phase, in 2008 generated a revenue of $21 million.
Since its inception, BWB has collected over 16.4 million books through active book drives at over 1,800 colleges and universities and collections from over 1,400 libraries across the USA. It has raised over $3.1 million for over 80 literacy and education nonprofits, and more than $2.1 million for libraries and thrift stores nationwide, in addition to directly sending more than 1.1 million books to Books for Africa, the National Center for Family Literacy, and Feed the Children. Environmentally, it has had positive impacts as well, diverting over 8,170 tons of books from landfills and reclaiming more than 680,000 pounds of metal shelving from libraries across the United States.
The impact of transporting the books is managed as well. The single central warehouse in America is augmented by 20 consolidation points around the country, allowing for books to be shipped inwards in bulk, and reducing both the environmental and financial cost per unit. Customer orders are shipped out by local post rather than more expensive and intensive package delivery services, and carbon offset through Carbonfund.org, with the first e-commerce carbon neutral shopping cart, with the small charge levied to pay for this also covering the donated shipments to literacy partners.
BWB is still small, but it is growing. By offering consumers value for money in addition to the satisfaction of contributing to a social cause and at minimum cost to the environment, they have captured a strong competitive advantage. In the current economic climate, that advantage may well make all the difference.
