A PricewaterhouseCoopers report on Australia's book market commissioned by the government's Book Industry Strategy Group predicted that the e-book market will grow from its current $35 million to between $150 and $700 million within three years; noted that high taxes, postage costs and Australian dollar continue to make Australian publishers and booksellers less competitive globally; and forecasted that the number of bookstores will likely shrink.
The Sydney Morning Herald said the report found no "silver bullet" for booksellers, but had praised Canadian bookseller Indigo Books & Music for, as the paper wrote, promoting "books as a 'lifestyle,' not a product. It sells giftware, children's toys, video games, music, gourmet food and even flowers and is an example of an independent bookseller leveraging people's affection for books."
The one bookseller the paper quoted offered a limited example of offering non-book products. Jane Turner, owner of Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore, Bondi, NSW, has had a café (in photo) since it opened 11 years ago and six months ago added wine to the menu, "because you're constantly trying to do things to look after the customers that you have,'' she told the Morning Herald. ''Every other person in retail you talk to talks about how terrible it is out there, and I think if we didn't have the different facets to the business--if you didn't have the coffee and the food and the wine and the books... when one has a bad day the other one just buffers it out.''
