Waterstones still trying to resolve warehouse 'failures' as problems stretch into September

Waterstones is still trying to resolve problems generated by the installation of its new warehouse technology Blue Yonder, with issues now stretching into September. 

The Bookseller has previously reported on the impact the system failures were having on staff, especially when facing angry customers who were unable to buy the titles they wanted. There were also concerns about key books missing from stores, the impact on authors, and titles from indie presses not making it into branches. 

In early August Kate Skipper, chief operating officer, said the chain was making progress towards normality and said the firm expected to “to have worked through the backlog and returned to normal operations over the generally quiet weeks of August”.

However, in an update provided to The Bookseller on 31st August, Waterstones said Blue Yonder was still working on “unexpected failures” and a timeline for resolution of the problems was still being determined. 

The chain said: “Through the weeks since launch, the Blue Yonder team has remained confident that they will resolve the implementation difficulties to allow us to return to a business-as-usual operation from September. As it is, they continue to work to resolve unexpected failures with a core lack of functionality in the Blue Yonder [warehouse and merchandise management system] modules. We now work with Blue Yonder urgently to determine a timeline to achieve full operations in which both we and they are confident.

“In the meantime, we have been greatly assisted by the ability of our publishing partners to deliver directly to shops and we continue to work closely with them to support adequate deliveries into shops. We are very grateful for their support and the continued work of our booksellers to manage this period of disruption to our logistics.”