book stations special
book stations & dot.
How book stations and the fashion company dot. can work together
Businesses in the easy town story
The easy town story is about planning and building a town from scratch to rethink basically everything about how humans build, work and live.
In the story businesses are set up even before the town has a site, partly because the team want to test their new business approaches as soon as possible, partly they want the businesses to be well developed before they get integrated into the town, and partly they want to earn more money for the town project.
dot. (a fashion company) is one of the major businesses which is set up early in the story.
The more businesses the town team set up the more they search for synergies and overlaps between the businesses so that the overall business network evolves into an organisation where all parts benefit from each other.
book stations & dot.
Since book stations worldwide and dot. basically work with the same business model, there are plenty of overlaps, and cost-saving opportunities.
Raw materials
Paper and fabrics need fibres. Therefore it makes sense to set up raw materials suppliers who work for book stations and for dot.stations.
Workshop and station designs
While the workshops and stations for books and for dot. will look very differently, they still have enough in common, and planners can work together closely.
‘What we are trying to do at the moment is to formulate rough guidelines and outlines for the different stations, using this time to let each business inspire all others. But eventually, it will be for the local architects to do the individual designs.’
Claire smiled. ‘And that’s yet another thing I love about this project. The sharing of ideas and responsibilities.’
book 3, shaping
Plus both can set up workshops for the project’s furniture company hidden doors (to be).
Gardens and farms
Gardens and farms are central to all business stations as one way to coexist with nature but also as places for staff and community.
Gardens, in particular, will offer opportunities for cooperation: exchanging ideas for gardens with a purpose (such as The Dance Garden) or using travelling gardener teams who look after gardens at various stations.
If it is advisable, a dot.station and a book station could be neighbours and share the work on the farms.
Recycling
The project’s recycling facilities can be at a station, or a facility could be at one station and work for several stations.
Recycling can also mean that old cloths are used by the bespoke books workshop for book covers, or a recycled version will serve as wrapping material.
Micro grids
All stations and workshops of all project businesses work with micro grids which makes it feasible to produce everything that is needed for the micro grids within the project network. This way the project ensures that no kind of exploitations or contamination comes into play.
Furthermore, if stations or workshops are neighbours they can use the same grid.
This also ensures that all project businesses operate independent of energy market prices.
Cooperation at stations
Over time stations add other businesses to their stations if those businesses are needed in the community.
A book station, for example, could have a dot.workshop for local dot.orders. And a dot.station could have a book workshop and maybe a bookshop for the neighbourhood.
There could also be joint events, such as a poetry reading at a fashion show. The launch of a book about fashion at a dot.station. A costume event at a book station with dot.outfits.
Cooperation regarding products
There are even more possible product overlaps:
- exclusive dot.collections for book stations (a collection which can only be bought at a particular book station)
- a dot.reading collection (comfy clothes to curl up in for a good read)
- dot.outfits for fictional characters, produced at dot.workshops, created in cooperation between author, dot. and book stations (who offer them)
- dot.outfits for authors, for their award ceremonies, readings and other public appearances
- reading hanky collection for intense reading experiences (could be sold directly with books that are likely to induce tears)
- Bespoke fashion catalogues and books
- Or a train holiday that combines offers from book stations and dot.
- And more …
Deliveries
book stations, dot. and other project businesses can set up a local or regional delivery cooperation.
Hosting
All project companies need hosting for their websites, and it makes sense to set up a hosting company (bullseye) for all of them, ensuring the most sustainable methods and work practices are employed.
Website
While selling very different products, dot. and book stations worldwide use similar offers on their websites, e.g. the use of filters, display of videos, individual customer spaces a.s.o. This means, something like a framework can be programmed for all companies which similar offers. And then each company can adjust this framework for their own products.
Network programmes
dot. and book stations work with a number of networks which are all connected digitally via an internal programme (which also automates some networking tasks). Again something like a basic programme can be built for all project businesses, and later it can be adjusted to what each company needs.
Financial transactions / admin
The framework for financial transactions and admin tasks can be developed as a sort of template which can then be adjusted for each company. The project bank will play a crucial role for all businesses, ensuring that every part of the overall network has what it needs.
