Hachette banks on value of physical books with expanded distribution center Print
Written by Jeremy Burns   
Wednesday, 15 January 2014 05:14 PM America/New_York

HachetteBookGroup-webHachette Book Group (HBG) has announced that it will expand its primary North American distribution center in Lebanon, Ind. When completed, the expanded facility will be approximately 1.5 million square feet, in two buildings.

Construction is scheduled to begin in March and will increase the facility by an additional 218,000 square feet. It is also expected to add 10 new full-time jobs.

While HBG is one of the leading e-book trade publishers (according to Digital Book World’s E-book Publisher Power Rankings), physical books still make up the majority of the company’s sales. This investment confirms Hachette’s intention to continue to control its own physical supply chain. Hachette’s warehouse expansion also reinforces the company’s commitment to be a leading provider of distribution services to other publishers.

“Distribution is a vital and growing part of our business at HBG, and it continues to be a high priority,” said Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch. “We’ve been very successful attracting and retaining medium to large independent publisher clients, and providing these clients with superb services. HBG’s warehouse expansion will allow us to continue on this path.”