Case Study: Akademibokhandeln achieves improved Christmas availability and centralized replenishment with RELEX Solutions

Akademibokhandeln Centralizing Processes for Better Christmas Management

Akademibokhandeln, Sweden’s leading bookseller with 107 stores and roughly 1,000 employees, faced a demanding supply-chain challenge: about 20% of annual sales occur in the three weeks before Christmas, and the constant flow of new titles with no sales history made forecasting and replenishment difficult. A prior system failed to deliver centralized replenishment, leaving store staff spending large amounts of time tracking stock and placing orders.

After a five‑store Christmas pilot, RELEX was rolled out to provide centralized forecasting and replenishment, automatic handling of minimum order batches, supplier restrictions, ramp‑downs and seasonal profiles for new releases. The result was improved availability (+2 percentage points at Christmas, +1.5 pp in normal periods), a centrally managed process that still lets local staff highlight titles, and dramatically reduced reordering effort (now two people a few hours per week instead of several people many hours).

Akademibokhandeln

Anton Hellström

Supply Chain Manager