The book distributor Socadis, one of the largest in Canada, is slowly resuming its activities. The company, which delivers nearly a third of Quebec’s books to bookstores (La Pastèque, Flammarion, Fides, Ulysse), had to close all of its systems on December 17 in response to a breach in its cybersecurity. Logistics operations are slowly restarting this week.
The warehouse has been accessible to carriers for receiving merchandise and returning books since January 3, as Socadis indicates on its Facebook page. Orders from booksellers are intact. A temporary email and phone number have been activated. The website remains inaccessible.
Because the distributor found itself, at the end of December, without lines of communication with its customers, both booksellers and publishers. Which meant that booksellers could not place special orders. That invoicing, deliveries and operations have been frozen, in the middle of the holiday season.
I’ve seen independent bookstores send each other customers, even though they’re supposed to be competitors
“We are receiving fewer and fewer questions from our members regarding Socadis at the Quebec Booksellers Association (ALQ), explains co-director Jade Bergeron, which clearly indicates that communications are getting back on track. »
The shutdown of the distributor’s systems appears to have ultimately caused more fear than harm. “December was not the right time for an incident of this kind,” sighs Mme Bergeron, because that’s where the bookstores sell the most. In May, we would have worried less…”
“But no one chooses when these things happen. Also, we now know that no data was lost; there was no breach of confidentiality; just paralysis. »
Between booksellers
Jade Bergeron noted “a great collegiality in reaction”. Because the main problem is when a title is out of print – like a certain Gaston Lagaffe, very, very in demand – the small bookseller “risks losing his customer, who wants to buy it right away, in favor of “a large store like Walmart, Amazon or a large chain of bookstores, all of which have larger warehouses,” continues the co-director.
“I’ve seen independent bookstores send customers to each other, even though they’re supposed to be competitors. »
“There were probably some losses of special orders,” said M.me Bergeron, where a customer asks his bookstore to bring a specific book within four or six days.
But the ALQ is not yet able to assess the impact of the outage at Socadis. “Honestly, we don’t know if we will be able to measure it clearly. We suspect a slight drop in sales, but it’s really intuitive. »
“The impact was minor”
At the Marie-Laura bookstore in Saguenay, “we didn’t lack anything,” explains Pascale Brisson-Lessard. “We had large quantities of the flagship titles. It’s just customer orders that suffer because of the delay. »
The Exèdre bookstore in Trois-Rivières estimates that it has lost $500 in sales. “Our last order before Christmas could never be delivered,” says Audrey Martel, co-owner. We missed certain titles, especially Catherine Dorion’s essay, and sad tiger » by Neige Sinno, at POL, Femina prize.
“Our big Christmas success was Watch over her [Jean-Baptiste Andrea, L’Iconoclaste, prix Goncourt], but we had ordered enough. And I wasn’t embarrassed to explain to people why we were out of certain books. Our relationship with customers is trulyfun. We are a small bookstore and often, people leave with another suggestion instead,” continues M.me Martel.
“For the start of the school year, I know that Mireille Gagné and Strike, at La Peuplade, is eagerly awaited, as well as the new David Foenkinos, but I think the situation should be resolved in time for these releases. »
At Éditions de la Pastèque, distributed by Socadis, “the impact was minor”, indicates co-owner Martin Brault. Their holiday book, The first Christmas tree, by Ovila Fontaine and Charlotte Parent, entered bookstores well in advance, on October 19. “From December 15, we are only talking about last minute restocking from certain bookstores. Our next new releases in January are scheduled as normal,” continues Mr. Brault, who then specifies that “Flammarion and Socadis managed everything in a very proactive and professional manner.”
Socadis did not respond to questions from Duty. For Jade Bergeron, from the ALQ, “the biggest impact, I believe it will be a big resurgence of interest in cybersecurity training for the entire book industry in 2024,” she concludes, with a smile in her face. voice.