Case Study: ThriftBooks achieves better buying decisions and higher profit margins with Mode

Thriftbooks uses Mode to make better buying decisions

Thriftbooks, the largest second‑hand book seller with over 13 million titles and 500 employees, faced a data bottleneck: engineering was the sole “source of truth,” forcing developers to answer routine data questions and slowing business decisions about which supplier shipments to buy. The supply team needed quick answers—like how likely a shipment would sell—but Power BI couldn’t deliver the self‑service workflows they required.

By rolling out Mode, Thriftbooks quickly built an internal app (in under 30 minutes) that lets the supply team upload 10,000+ ISBNs to forecast demand and revenue, enabling immediate, data‑driven buy/no‑buy decisions. The solution freed engineering from ad hoc requests, boosted engineering bandwidth fivefold, uncovered a $30k operational inefficiency in two weeks, and increased profit margins through better purchasing decisions.

ThriftBooks

Trevor Higbee

Vice President of Technology