Bookstores showed an increase in book prices, reduction in sales
According to the results of the first quarter, the turnover of the largest bookstores included in the Association of Book -Examiners grew by 1.1%, and then only due to price growth, with a reduction in physical sales by 6%. The association believes that the introduction of bookstores to the bill “On the Platform Economy” would help to rectify the situation.
“Kommersant” got acquainted with the report of the Association of Book -Examiners (ASKR; combines more than 20 bookstores and publishers, including the “Moscow House of the Book”, the Lumvoed network, the Alpina Group of Companies) following the results of the first quarter. It follows from it that in three months since the beginning of the year, the turnover of bookstores has grown by only 1.1%. At the same time, growth is due to increasing the prices of books, specify in associations. So, the average retail cost of the book for the period amounted to 515.9 rubles, which is 7.2%higher than last year. The instance sales in January -March were reduced by 6.4% a year by the year, said in the ASKR.
In parallel, the average sales price in bookstores increased. In the category of fiction, the indicator increased by 5.7%, children’s publications-by 9.8%, non-fiction-by 3.9%. In educational literature (profile materials and manuals), the average sales price increased by 4.6%.
According to the results of last year, the turnover of book retail (shops and chains) amounted to 37.4 billion rubles, it accounted for 38% of all book products sold. This is the minimum indicator in four years, the channel share from 2019 to 2024 decreased by 29%. So, in 2019, it was 67%.
The main challenges in the ASKR are the increase in costs and a drop in business profitability, an acute shortage of qualified personnel, and also an increase in the cost of books against the background of the fall of purchasing power. The situation also affects price dumping and non -compliance with antimonopoly legislation (Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”) by marketplaces, according to associations. In April, the organization even sent a letter to the FAS with a request to take measures to protect bookstores (See “Kommersant” from April 16). According to the forecast of the President of the ASKR Svetlana Zorina, the positive dynamics of the turnover of bookstores can be preserved by the end of the year, but only due to rising prices. Comrade sales, it does not exclude, will be reduced by 6-10%.
Representatives of the book industry consider it possible to implement measures to support bookstores within the framework of the bill “On the Platform Economy” (according to Kommersant, in case of adoption, the document will enter into force on March 1, 2026). We are talking about limiting the price competition between online and offline sales channels and the introduction of maximum prices. The marketplaces repeatedly indicated that the prices for goods are set by the seller, not the site. The absence of the necessary regulation of relations between sellers and marketplaces “leads to imposing marketing activities and discounts for partners”, changing the terms of the contract by online sites, says the managing partner of the Law Company of the EBR, Alexander Zhuravlev.
In the apparatus of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko (oversees the development of the bill), it was reported that the project standards “are already solving the problem of inconsistent discounts, shares applied to the goods of partners-seller”. So, the document establishes the principle of the seller’s prerogatives in pricing, clarify there. The conditions for the provision of discounts are determined in the contract between the operator and the partner, the latter comes the corresponding notification no later than 14 days before the action. The Ministry of Economy added that the elaboration of various sentences does not stop, but taking into account the high level of readiness of the text, possible adjustments are discussed at the subsequent stages. The inclusion of book -trade retail in the bill in Kommersant in one of the major publishers calls unlikely: “The government planned to create a register of marketplaces, which will include platforms with an audience of more than 100 thousand per day (See “Kommersant” from February 21). The shops have no such attendance. ”
