KNO Verlagsauslieferung

KNO Verlagsauslieferung — historically Koch, Neff & Oetinger Verlagsauslieferung GmbH (KNO VA) — is a German publishing distribution and logistics company. It traces its roots to 1829 and grew through mergers of Stuttgart book-trade firms into one of the two largest publishing distributors in Germany, alongside Bertelsmann's Vereinigte Verlagsauslieferung (VVA). Its clients have included well-known publishers such as Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv), Klett-Cotta, Gräfe und Unzer, Suhrkamp and Thieme. The company stores publishers' book inventories and fulfils orders to booksellers, handling not only physical distribution but also order entry, customer service, invoicing, debtors' accounting, dunning and e-book delivery. After an insolvency filing in February 2019, KNO was acquired by the Zeitfracht Unternehmensgruppe on 1 August 2019 and renamed Zeitfracht GmbH in early 2021. The former sister company's wholesale business (Koch, Neff und Volckmar) is also now run under Zeitfracht GmbH. The group's media division uses a hummingbird (Kolibri) as its mark alongside the Zeitfracht name. Today the business operates as Kolibri360, a logistics and e-commerce fulfilment provider with locations in Erfurt, Stuttgart and Heeslingen. It employs more than 1,650 people, manages around 390,000 square metres of logistics space, and delivers to 70 countries. Its core areas include book wholesale, publishing distribution, electronics, print-on-demand, transportation and fulfilment, serving industries from media and consumer electronics to fashion and lifestyle.

The history of KNO Verlagsauslieferung reaches back to 1829, when Paul Neff founded a firm in Stuttgart. The company as it is known today emerged from the firm F. Volckmar, founded by Friedrich Volckmar, and through acquisitions and mergers between 1903 and 1907 of the former Stuttgart book-trade and commission firms Albert Koch & Co. (founded 1860), A. Oetinger (founded 1835) and Paul Neff (founded 1829). The names of these three firms were retained because of their greater recognition in southern Germany. In 1917, Koch & Oetinger and Neff & Koehler in Stuttgart were combined into Koch, Neff & Oetinger GmbH & Co. In 2004, Koch, Neff & Oetinger (KNO) and Koehler & Volckmar (KV) merged to form Koch, Neff & Volckmar (KNV), while Koch, Neff & Oetinger & Co. Verlagsauslieferung GmbH remained a separate entity. In 2009, KNO VA acquired the publishing distributor LKG (Leipziger Kommissions- und Großbuchhandelsgesellschaft mbH), thereby in principle reincorporating a part of the business that had belonged to the company until the end of the Second World War and was then expropriated. On 20 May 2011, management announced that with an investment volume of 100 million euros, the logistics operations of Koch, Neff & Volckmar GmbH at the Stuttgart and Cologne sites, as well as the logistics of sister company Koch, Neff & Oetinger GmbH in Stuttgart, would be dissolved and centralised in Erfurt-Mittelhausen by 2015. The former KNO-VA buildings were completely demolished by September 2016. The non-logistics areas of the company moved into a new building complex directly adjacent to the previous site in summer 2016, built by an investor for the company. On 14 February 2019, the management of KNO-VA filed for insolvency at the Stuttgart district court. As of 1 August 2019, KNO-VA was taken over by the Zeitfracht Unternehmensgruppe. The previous managing partner Oliver Voerster (a direct descendant of the founding Volckmar family, sixth generation) and Bertram Feuerbacher left the company in this context. In early 2021 the company was renamed Zeitfracht GmbH. The wholesale business of the former sister company Koch, Neff und Volckmar is also now run under Zeitfracht GmbH. The media division of the Zeitfracht group now uses a hummingbird (Kolibri) as its mark alongside the Zeitfracht name. As a publishing distributor, Zeitfracht GmbH stores book inventories for affiliated publishers and delivers orders to publishing customers, and also transports non-books and other articles to bookshops. At the main site and in external warehouses it has more than 100,000 pallet spaces, connected by internal conveyor systems and truck shuttle traffic. Since the 1970s, many literary and non-fiction publishers have limited themselves to their core publishing areas such as editing, human resources, marketing and finance, and outsourced logistics, production and large parts of general administration to KNO Verlagsauslieferung. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (Munich) has been distributed by KNO VA since its founding in 1960. Beyond distribution, the company handles classic order acceptance and entry, information for the retail book trade, dispatch of publishing programmes, telephone marketing (inbound and outbound), database maintenance, dispatch of invoices and payment receipt. Debtors' accounting is carried out on behalf of and in the name of the publishers, or taken over as factoring including del credere. Dunning is also performed for the publishers. Publishers are offered special software products, for example for an overview of titles, customers and statistics, for information and order entry in the field, for press and review management, for address management, and a data warehouse system for customer- and title-related evaluations. Services for e-books include book digitisation, scan service for physical books, digital rights management (DRM) and support. KNO VA also stores e-books on servers and supplies e-books to trading platforms via these, and handles invoicing and debtors' management. In 2005 and 2007, KNO VA won the survey by the trade magazine BuchMarkt, which asked booksellers and publishers to rate the performance of publishing distributors. In 2007, KNO shared first place with competitors VVA and Prolit. Today the business operates under the Kolibri360 brand as a logistics and e-commerce fulfilment provider. According to its own figures, it employs more than 1,650 people at locations in Erfurt, Stuttgart and Heeslingen. Its core business areas include book wholesale, publishing distribution, electronics, print-on-demand, transportation and fulfilment. It reports 16,000,000 articles in its database, 390,000 square metres of managed logistics space, more than 25 km of installed conveyor systems, 600,000 titles available immediately, an average of 72,000 B2B/B2C packages per day, up to 1,000,000 items shipped per day, a print-on-demand capacity of more than 4,000,000, delivery to 70 countries, 300 swap bodies, around 200,000 pallets, around 150 trucks and 170 trailers, and 8+40 logistics hubs and warehouses. It offers retail services such as rackjobbing, assortment management, POS concepts, merchandising and return processing, and a non-book assortment of 50,000 items always in stock, with a title database of 13 million physical and digital titles.

• 2021

  Company renamed Zeitfracht GmbH; media division uses Kolibri mark.

• 2019

  Insolvency petition filed on 14 February; Zeitfracht group takes over KNO-VA on 1 August.

• 2016

  Former KNO-VA buildings demolished by September; non-logistics areas move into new building complex in summer.

• 2011

  Management announces 100 million euro investment to centralise logistics in Erfurt-Mittelhausen by 2015.

• 2009

  KNO VA acquires publishing distributor LKG (Leipziger Kommissions- und Großbuchhandelsgesellschaft mbH).

• 2007

  KNO VA shares first place in the BuchMarkt survey with VVA and Prolit.

• 2005

  KNO VA wins the BuchMarkt survey of publishing distributors.

• 2004

  Koch, Neff & Oetinger (KNO) and Koehler & Volckmar (KV) merge to form Koch, Neff & Volckmar (KNV); KNO VA remains separate.

• 1960

  Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv) founded; distributed by KNO VA since its founding.

• 1917

  Koch & Oetinger and Neff & Koehler combined into Koch, Neff & Oetinger GmbH & Co in Stuttgart.

• 1907

  Completion of mergers of Stuttgart book-trade firms.

• 1903

  Start of acquisitions and mergers that formed the company.

• 1860

  Albert Koch & Co. founded.

• 1835

  A. Oetinger firm founded.

• 1829

  Paul Neff firm founded in Stuttgart, one of the roots of the company.

One of Germany's two largest publishing distributors, now a broad logistics and e-commerce fulfilment provider under the Kolibri360 brand within the Zeitfracht group.

• Publishing distribution (Verlagsauslieferung)

  Storage of publishers' book inventories and delivery of orders to booksellers, including order entry, customer service, invoicing, debtors' accounting and dunning.

• Book wholesale (Barsortiment)

  Wholesale of books and non-books to bookshops, now run under Zeitfracht GmbH.

• E-commerce fulfilment

  Comprehensive fulfilment solutions from goods receipt and warehousing to order picking, shipping and returns.

• Print-on-demand

  Print-on-demand capacity of more than 4,000,000 units.

• Retail services

  Rackjobbing, assortment management, POS concepts, merchandising and return processing at the point of sale.

• Non-book assortment

  50,000 non-book items always in stock, including toys, stationery, media technology, food & drink, home & living and sustainability products.

1. 1Kolibri360 – Logistics and E-commerce Fulfillmentkolibri360.de
2. 2Kolibri360: Your Partner for Logistics and Fulfillment - Kolibri360kolibri360.de
3. 3Retail Services: Efficiency at the Point of Sale - Kolibri360kolibri360.de
4. 4Non-book: The Best Products for Your Customers - Kolibri360kolibri360.de
5. 5KNO Verlagsauslieferungwikidata.org
6. 6KNO Verlagsauslieferungde.wikipedia.org