Digital sales threaten supreme reign of large bookstores

Sales in e-books have almost tripled in one year. In the first five months of 2009, 2,9% of the book trade turnover came from e-books. A year later, this was 8,5%. This shift can be explained to originate from two causes. The first is a question of economy. E-books are generally cheaper than their printed brethren. The second cause is one of convenience: to purchase an e-book, one never has to leave the house.

In extension of this trend of convenience, the shopping experience is changing. This worries publishers. A considerable fraction of the book sales happens because of browsing the aisles in bookshops. Of course there is an online pendant of browsing as well, with sites like Amazon enticing you with books it thinks you like based on your profile, but it does not fulfil the same function. Browsing through a bookshop brings customers in contact with books they did not even consider buying and that might have nothing to do with previous acquisitions. Publishers and other actors in the book trade fear that this will lead to a shrinking total number of books, printed in both in and bits, being sold.

Publishers expect this the e-book business will continue to grow rapidly, estimating that within three to five years, 40% of the book business will be paperless.

This puts pressure on the large chains of bookstores, like Barnes & Noble, the largest chain in the US. In their heyday in the 1990’s, they outcompeted the small bookstores with large selections, unmatched writer events and many discounts. The competition in the e-book market, in which Barnes & Noble hold a considerable share, has put pressure on this business model. Now, the independents see their niche widen once again. Independent bookshop owner Chris Morrowsays to the New York Times: “Being small and privately held allows us to be more nimble. Our competitive advantage has been the curation aspect — knowing our customers and picking the right books. We still have that competitive advantage. Barnes & Noble doesn’t have that.”