World of Books passes £100m sales mark for first time

Online secondhand book retailer World of Books has passed the £100m mark for sales for the first time.

The company, currently marking its 20th anniversary, reported £101.4m in sales for the period 1st November 2020 to 31st October 2021. Further figures were not broken out.

The company said it had also renewed its focus on sustainability. In 2021, it averted 6,168 tonnes of carbon and has reduced carbon footprint by over 50% across the group in the last five years. The organisation is working towards being carbon-neutral in 2022 and says it has saved 26,000 tonnes of new paper, amounting to over 449,000 trees. 

World of Books was founded by a group of entrepreneurs who rescued a bag of books from a charity shop bin destined for landfill and sold them secondhand. It sources books from UK charities and sells them to customers internationally. It employs 720 people and has plans to accelerate its plans to donate more books abroad through partnerships including Books2Africa, Own Books and The Book Fairies.

Graham Bell, c.e.o. of World of Books Group, said: “We are extremely proud of the great work the team has done so far but we are equally excited about what the future holds. We are planning to become certified carbon-neutral by the end of 2022 and a net-zero business by 2030 and we are committed to donating one million books to good causes. More broadly, we are dedicated to our company mission to support charities and protect the planet whilst making a positive impact on the world—all while continuing to offer our customers and communities more and more reasons to re-love a pre-loved book.”

The organisation is set to meet its pledge to donate one million books worldwide a year by 2025 and has raised £100,000 through a Virgin Money partnership. It has also helped more than 600 charities to generate revenue from donations.

Last year, the organisation partnered with the Society of Authors to launch a £5,000 award for writers.