World of Books Group was founded in 2002 with an ethos to do good, to help charities and protect the planet. Using business as a force for good is at the very heart of the company’s operations.
The Worthing-based business promotes the love of reading to millions of customers around the world whilst introducing new initiatives to support their people, customers, communities and charity partners.
It has donated tens of thousands of books to schools across the UK and launched a partnership with Virgin Money Giving that allows customers to trade-in their unwanted books, CDs, games and DVDs with the money going to charities.
When charity shops were forced to close their doors during the pandemic, World of Books Group was able to support them with their Shopiago software – the UK’s only online listing software designed specifically for the charity sector – enabling them to keep their doors open virtually and continue trading despite lockdown restrictions and adapted the software to be web-based, enabling shop staff and volunteers to list from their homes.
And doing good doesn’t have to mean a company can’t be profitable – sales at World of Books exceeded £100 million for the first time in 2020/21, with the business being one of only a handful of firms to have gained two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in 2022.
See: World of Books Group website
Photos: Books ready for recyling, Books being sorted, Our packaging is made up of 30% recycled materials and is 100% recyclable that significantly reduces its environmental impact, Books in their new home (credit World of Books)