Bertelsmann Lesering
| Bertelsmann Lesering
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Company with limited liability |
| founding | June 1, 1950 |
| resolution | 2015 |
| Seat | Rheda-Wiedenbrück |
| management | Bernd Schröder |
| Number of employees | 520 (2014) |
| sales | approx. 100 million euros (2014) |
| Branch | Book club |
| Website | derclub.de |
The former Bertelsmann Lesering was a book club based in Rheda-Wiedenbrück in East Westphalia ( Gütersloh district ). It is a company of the Bertelsmann media group and entered in the commercial register as RM Buch und Medien Vertrieb GmbH , RM are the initials of Reinhard Mohn . However, it appeared for many years as Club Bertelsmann or Der Club .
history
Bertelsmann Lesering was founded on June 1, 1950 and one year later had 100,000 members, one million in 1954 and around 1.6 million in 1956. The membership rose to over 6 million in the 1970s. After falling, the number grew to around 7 million after German reunification . At the beginning of 2006 there were 3.3 million in Germany, around one million in 2014 and only 2015 club members remained until June.
The first branch was opened under the name Bücherstube on April 1, 1964 in Kiel . In 1968 a branch opened in Münster , which existed for 47 years until 2015. In 1969 all branches were renamed Club Centers . The number of branches rose to 320 after reunification and fell to 52 by 2014. From June 2014 the German-speaking direct business was carried out. In 1996 there were also around 250 book club sales partners in Germany.
Bertelsmann also operated the club business abroad; the Bertelsmann clubs had more than 25 million members worldwide. Abroad, after 2015, the book club business is only represented in Ukraine and Russia and with a 50 percent stake in Spain.
On March 31, 2015, the last two book club branches in Gütersloh and Rheda closed . The online shop was also closed on December 23, 2015.
Business model
The company marketed books directly to readers. Interested readers could select books and have them sent to them via catalogs or the website. The books sold differed mostly in the cover design from the originals and were marked as "licensed edition". They could be offered significantly cheaper due to the plannable circulation. In addition, there were contract authors who only published at Bertelsmann. This is not the only reason why the club has been criticized by the traditional book trade. The question of what “grace period” for the book trade after which new publications can be sold via direct sales also led to disputes.
In addition to books, the company also offered other media products (records, compact discs, DVDs, etc.) and services in a significantly expanded range . Members were obliged to buy a product at least once every quarter.
Club trips
In 2008, the DerClub-Reisen website began to sell travel independently. Previously, the company only brokered trips from other providers. In contrast to the book club, no membership was required to take advantage of the travel offers.
literature
- Jan Philip Holtman: Path Dependency of Strategic Decisions: A Case Study Using the Example of the Bertelsmann Book Club Germany. Kölner Wissenschaftsverlag, Cologne 2008, ISBN 3937404570 . Also available as an open access version at: FU-Berlin: Dissertationen Online .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ n-tv.de: The "Lesering" miracle is dead - Bertelsmann closes book club on June 18, 2014
- ^ Westfälische Nachrichten of January 9, 2015
- ↑ End of 2015 / Bertelsmann says bye, bye to the club. In: boersenblatt.net. Retrieved January 22, 2017 .
- ↑ End of an Era - Bertelsmann Club sends out last book. Derwesten.de , December 23, 2015, accessed on December 23, 2015 .
- ↑ Today the last club branches close - open end. Börsenblatt , March 31, 2015, accessed on December 23, 2015 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 54 ′ 29.9 ″ N , 8 ° 25 ′ 10 ″ E