The traditional tools
The CID is a full-fledged actor on the book market and plays all the roles of a diffuser-distributor.
To best fill bookstores’ orders, the center has buffer stocks of the roughly 8,000 references found in its catalogue.
Processed the same day they are received, orders are billed using commercial management software connected to the Dilicom network, an electronic tool for processing orders that is widely used by booksellers and publishers. The orders are then sent to clients according to his/her instructions: delivered to a third-party bookstore, sent by the postal services, or delivered via one of the major logistical platforms like Prisme, Fnac Palaiseau, etc.
The CID is hence able to quickly deliver to any library while ensuring optimal commercial conditions (minimum 30% discount, option of returning).
A team of two representatives regularly visits a network composed of some 150 bookstores in France and the surrounding countries. These sales outlets are very diverse: university presses, normal bookstores (most of which have a service for collectivities), specialized bookstores (archeology, the Arab world, social sciences, etc), mail-order stores, or large multimedia outlets.
Excluding the Parisian bookstores that are visited monthly, these other clients usually meet with representatives three to five times per year. In addition, they receive lists containing our newest publications by postal or electronic mail, which are added to the major reference databases, including that of the Fnac, or the Alapage.com online bookstore.
