The first step in the RFP process is to establish the companies you want to consider as potential bidders on your distribution business. You have, essentially, options: specialist firms that provide distribution providers to book publishers, and book publishers who handle distribution for other publishers.

Every of those options has its pluses and minuses. Consider both—the broader you solid your net, the higher your options, as well as your understanding of the range of providers available.

Regardless of the players you consider, your RFP must be sent to a minimal of 4 bidders, and you need to allow ample time (four months, minimum) for the complete process from RFP creation to last vendor selection.

Protect Your Information
Before you alternate any information, all prospective bidders needs to be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The NDA shouldn't only embrace prohibitions against divulging confidential monetary and operational data provided by either party, however ought to contain a clause clearly prohibiting the dialogue of the RFP with unauthorized parties within the publisher’s organization. Moving to a third-party distribution business model is a significant step, and until the decision is finalized and a transition plan confirmed, the main points of the hassle needs to be shared only on a necessity-to-know basis. Past the potential anxiety and disruption to your corporation, your negotiating leverage is diminished if your effort is affected by info leaks.

Part One: Your Wants and Expectations
An RFP ought to have major sections. Part 1 ought to comprise information about your existing operations and your expectations for your corporation over the three to five years following the transition to the third-party provider.

The latter is particularly important—especially when you see your organization embracing the operational opportunities introduced by print-on-demand (POD) and quick-run digital printing. As POD pricing continues to say no to near-commodity levels, printing technology improves and inventory becomes virtual, the calls for on distribution facilities will undergo dramatic change—all of which ought to translate to reduced operating prices for publishers.

Part 1 additionally ought to include, at minimum, quantitative particulars for your online business’ final full, fiscal 12 months, together with:

Number of active prospects
Number of invoices and credit memos issued annually
Calendarized gross sales and returns—in both dollars and units
Transaction details, together with number of units per bill and number of lines per bill
Number of titles in active backlist
Number of new titles revealed yearly
Examination copy volume
Average number of books in storage
Specialised service necessities, including kitting, worldwide shipments, sticker application, re-jacketing, etc.
Publisher service expectations, including time-in-process requirements for major processes equivalent to income and complimentary-copy order success, returns processing, check-in and availability of incoming inventory, etc.
Be Accurate and In-depth
The quality and quantity of the information you provide will have a direct bearing on the accuracy of the bid and the quality of the working relationship between you and your distribution partner. It's a good suggestion to incorporate a multiyear view of the information listed above that illustrates both historic tendencies and prospects for the future.

Part Two: Ask the Right Questions
Section 2 of the RFP provides the prospective distribution partners with detailed questions concerning their organizations, the services you would like them to provide and, in fact, the
related costs.

The RFP should, at minimum, request the next:

• Distributor background, together with history, ownership, group chart, shopper list and financial statements.

• Operational descriptions. Request a list of critical warehouse, achievement and repair processes, and written descriptions together with workmovement diagrams. The operations ought to include order intake, pick, pack and ship, customer support, invoicing, credit and collections, and processing of incoming shipments.

• Service-level standards. Request that the distributor provide particulars of service-stage standards (e.g., time in process) for critical enterprise operations.

• Inventory management, including physical stock processes, shrink-
management procedures, back-order reporting and administration, and audit controls.

• Digital services. A number of major distributors have established strategic alliances with POD specialists, digital asset administration service providers and e-book distributors to supply a broader range of services. These providers offer the smaller publisher a remarkable opportunity and ought to be absolutely explored as part of the RFP process.

• Computer systems, including a complete description of the hardware and enterprise software in place, plans for any upgrades or replacement of the enterprise systems, EDI/ONIX capabilities, consumer information access and reporting capabilities.

• Contingency plans, together with
disaster-recovery plans for the facility and business systems, and a readiness plan in the occasion of a pandemic flu outbreak. A stunning number of publishers have asked their suppliers to provide their business continuity plans for managing by means of a flu epidemic.

• Buyer references. While references provided by the distributor will only be from satisfied customers, they are nonetheless valuable and needs to be completely researched.

• Price structure. Distributors typically will quote providers on a transaction foundation or as a proportion of net sales. The publisher should specify the wantred pricing method, however for ease of comparing prospective costs with historical spending, the share of net sales method is recommended. In addition to the base costs, the distributor ought to be asked to provide a detailed list of prices that are not included within the base fee, such as excess returns costs, excess stock, personalized reporting charges, etc.

• Transition costs. The move from your present distributor to your new provider is not going to be without costs. The distributor must be asked to provide an estimate of the transition expenses that will be billed to you—if any—including inventory transfer, data upload and another bills for which the distributor will anticipate to be reimbursed.

• Pattern contract. You should have your legal advisor evaluate the distributor’s sample contract.

A Service Indicator
A careabsolutely crafted RFP is essential to successfully evaluating the potential worth of third-party distribution. The time you invest in it will probably be time well spent.

In the event you liked this article in addition to you wish to be given more details with regards to rfp distribution and tracking generously check out our own website.