- In 2022, merchant sites like Amazon have gained market share in the sale of books
- Bookstores dominate but are running out of steam
- It remains to be seen whether the end of the quasi-free delivery charge for books will have an impact on the market.
Pending the implementation of the minimum delivery rate of 3 euros for books on e-commerce sites, bookstores continue to lose ground against giants like Amazon. Last week, the Ministry of Culture published alarming figures: Internet sites continue to grab market share in the sale of books in France.
While the pandemic (and the closure of bookstores) could “excuse” the increase in market share of merchant sites such as Amazon, Fnac or even Chapitre, the latter is now behind us. Nevertheless, in 2022, e-tailers held 21.9% market share. This is equivalent to an increase of 1.9 points compared to the previous year.
If bookstores continue to dominate the market with 22.9% market share in 2022, there is a major slowdown. Indeed, since 2006, bookstores held almost 26% of the market share. A bitter observation which should soften as of next October.
Indeed, faced with the growing success of online commerce sites for the sale of books, the Ministry of Culture wants to give bookstores a boost. With 3,500 points of sale, the government intends to protect the network of independent bookstores in France with a new law. Thus, in the coming months, e-merchants will have to invoice the delivery of books at 3 euros… Except for any order over 35 euros.
With the imminent disappearance of this major advantage of merchant sites, the government hopes to allow bookstores to regain market share. With the current inflation, one can easily imagine that readers will think twice before incurring a higher price out of laziness or practicality. But consumers are sometimes surprising. Thus, we will have to wait for the figures for 2023 to realize the effect of this decision.
Fnac, Cultura: the big winners of the book sale?
But in this battle between websites and bookstores, we often forget an important candidate: specialized supermarkets. Cultura, Fnac and the Leclerc cultural spaces are the real winners of this showdown.
Indeed, for the 11th consecutive year, it is the latter that sell the most books in France. In 2022, specialized supermarkets have a stranglehold on 27.7% market share. There is, however, a slight drop since its peak of 28.6% in 2020. For their part, supermarkets and hypermarkets have a certain weight with 18.7% of market share in 2022.
