A chapter of its own

The newspaper and book trade is trade - but according to its own rules. Hardly any other branch of trade combines such a large assortment with such a short half-life: millions of available titles on the one hand, a daily newspaper that is worthless tomorrow on the other. In addition, there is a special feature that characterizes the entire calculation - a significant part of the goods can be returned. If you want to map this industry with an ordinary retail ERP, you will notice that something is missing at the latest during the first removal statement.

This starts with the master data. Title data is not recorded itself, but comes from outside - from directories of available books, from bar assortments and wholesalers, in continuously updated data deliveries with ISBN, EAN, edition, publisher, publication date and bound price. The article master of a bookseller is therefore less a maintenance task than an integration task: The software must automatically take over external data, keep it up-to-date and allow its own additions to survive.

The real lever lies in the disposition. Purchase quantities per title and per location, commission goods, return periods, return rates - all of this determines the margin, and every day. What is too much on the shelf becomes waste; what is missing is sales that go to the competitor or do not take place at all. Software that does not bring sales data and purchase quantities together leaves this decision to gut feeling.

In the branch operation, the area is added. Several locations with different product ranges, legally connected POS systems, automatic replenishment, cross-branch inventory query and the classic customer order, which is picked up in the store and picked up in the store. The stock must be correct in real time - a "should actually be there" is no information at the sales desk.

That leaves the customer side, and it is more diverse than it seems from the outside. subscriptions with periodic invoicing, delivery and interruptions; an online shop that needs covers, blurbs and excerpts and not just price and title; libraries, schools and companies as B2B customers with framework agreements and collective invoices; in addition, regular customers whose loyalty is based on reservations, recommendations and loyalty programs. All of this belongs in one system - not in five.

Why MD-Premium should be your choice.

• Product handling, tailored to the book trade…: The handling of consignment goods is an integral requirement in the newspaper and book trade. MD-Premium masters the handling of consignment goods, including the removal of surplus items. Batch management can be used to break down individual articles into sub-variants and track them individually, e.g. local editions of daily newspapers. The enterprise resource management system provides up-to-date information about which items have been sold and in what quantities. On this basis, order proposals are automatically drawn up, which are designed to minimize the number of removal goods. The system supports a wide range of storage types, including vending machines. These can optionally also be connected to the goods storage system in order to initiate automatic restocking before the goods run out.
• POS-Integration: MD-Premium supports the cash sale of goods via cash registers and complies with the RKSV 2017. The system supports external signature service providers to sign receipts in a forgery-proof manner and transmits receipt data online to the tax office. Typical processes such as daily, monthly or annual financial statements are supported by the system as well as zero receipts and the automatic export of the data entry log. POS hardware is connected to the ERP via the REST interface and its functions are accessed, whereby the POS can also serve as a time recording tool when MD-Premium's TAA module is in use. An integrated overall system is offered, for example, by the company Postronik.
• Synchronized with the world: Like many other industries, the book and newspaper trade has its own industry-internal nomenclatures and data structures. In addition to EAN13, the article master of MD-Premium also knows the ISBN number to identify books and journals. Master data for books and journals is usually provided by publishers and does not have to be maintained by the retailer himself, but imported. MD-Premium offers the possibility to connect to external data sources via REST API or other digital interfaces and to synchronize article data. MD-Premium is capable of the EH2000 format for comparing newspaper data, among other things.
• eCommerce inclusive: The integrated B2B webshop allows you to provide a powerful sales and ordering platform for your customers. Thanks to the PIM module of MD-Premium ERP, you can also provide a wealth of information and data on the available printed works, including cover images, blurbs, excerpts, as well as basic data such as edition, year of publication, type of literature or format. In order to optimize business processes between suppliers and dealers, MD-Premium offers a complete EDIFACT interface to exchange globally standardized business messages such as orders, delivery notes or invoices digitally and fully automatically.
• As diverse as your customers: Subscriptions can be mapped in the system via periodic orders. Large customers such as libraries or universities are stored in the system via contracts, with their own conditions that are taken into account by the ERP. It is possible to carry out the billing via a collective invoice. The CRM module manages your customer base and their buying behavior. The "Related-Article" mechanism of the PIM module can be used to make purchase suggestions based on previous purchases. There is also the possibility of a loyalty program, where you can offer special offers and discounts to long-standing or particularly eager customers.