According to their website, The Book Depository offers over six million different titles, all available for shipment within 48 hours. Though located in England, they ship to over 100 countries, and shipping is free. The Book Depository does not sell used books, but focuses on selling as many in-print titles as they can find. They have a subsidiary press as well that has republished over 15,000 out-of-print or hard-to-find titles. Their aim is to have the largest selection of in-print titles available anywhere in the world.
Again according to their website, The Book Depository is "the fastest growing bookseller in Europe," with over a million customers and "shipping to thousands of customers every day." In a brief statement, Amazon's Vice President of European Retail Greg Greeley was quoted as saying, "The Book Depository is very focused on serving its customers around the world, and we look forward to welcoming them to the Amazon family."
This is hardly the first purchase, whether within or without the book trade, by the Seattle-based mega-retailer. Amazon's most notable previous purchase within the book field was the world's largest used books website, AbeBooks. Additionally, AbeBooks has made several purchases within the field itself, most recently the large European based used bookseller ZVAB/Choosebooks.
