World of Books surpasses £100 million in sales.

For the first time, World of Books, an online secondhand book shop who do a lot of amazing work for charities, has surpassed the £100 million mark in sales.

The company, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, posted sales of £101.4 million from November 1, 2020 to October 31, 2021. 

The corporation also stated that it had refocused on sustainability. It cut back on 6,168 tonnes of carbon in 2021. It also decreased its carbon footprint by more than 50% across the board in the last five years. The group claims it has saved 26,000 tonnes of paper; equivalent to over 449,000 trees, and plans to be carbon-neutral by 2022.

World of Books was started by a group of individuals who rescued some books headed for waste from a charity store dumpster and then resold them.

It buys books from charities in the United Kingdom and sells them to people all around the world. It already employs 720 people but wants to expand its efforts. The plan is to give additional books to developing countries through partnerships with charities such as Own Books, Books2Africa, and The Book Fairies.

“We are tremendously proud of the fantastic work the team has done so far. But we are equally enthusiastic about what the future holds,” said Graham Bell, CEO of World of Books Group. We want to be carbon-neutral by the end of 2022 and to be a net-zero company by 2030. We’ve pledged to donate one million books to charitable organizations. Furthermore, we are committed to our company objective of supporting charities and protecting the environment while having a positive impact on the world. All while providing our customers and communities with more and more reasons to re-love a used book.”

The organization is on track to reach its goal of donating one million books per year around the world by 2025. This is mainly due to a £100,000 donation from Virgin Money. It has also supported over 600 organisations in raising funds through donations.