The Federation of European Publishers's new report, Consequences of the Covid-19 Crisis on the Book Market, offers an analysis of how the book trade has been affected by the pandemic, using information submitted primarily by FEP members during the months of the emergency. FEP president Rudy Vanschoonbeek described the report as "an interim stock-taking exercise which we expect to renew at the end of the year. We hope that in the meanwhile trade will have picked up and that we will be bearers of better news."
Sales in brick-and-mortar bookstores dropped between 75% and 95% in most countries where a lockdown was in place, according to the report. Retail sales in Austria in the second half of March were down 74%, and down 50% in Belgium for the whole month. In France, level 1 bookshops (larger stores and culture superstores) saw a 50% reduction in March sales, and German bookstores lost more than 30% of sales. By the end of March, for the lockdown period, booksellers' sales in Italy had declined 75%, while sales were down 78% in Portugal, 80% in Spain and 85% in Romania.
The report noted that "if anyone was doubting it, the importance of the bookshop sales channel became clear in the impact the closures had on the overall publishers' turnover. Overall sales were down 66% in France between mid-March and mid-April and one of the largest publishing groups recorded a -90% in sales in early April. In Italy, close to one third of publishers estimated a loss of more than 70% of their turnover for March. The whole value chain expected losses of €500 million [about $580 million] per month in Germany, and €200 million [$232.2 million] per month in Spain. The loss of the main channel, plus the restrictions to movement and activities, meant for many publishers a massive reduction in the level of work, and in numerous cases a total cessation."
By April, sales in level 1 bookshops in France were down 96%, and 89% for level 2 bookshops (smaller local bookstores). Retail bookselling lost 47% in value in Germany, while in Italy, by mid-month, sales in bookstores were down 85% on average since the beginning of the lockdown. In Spain and Slovenia, sales dropped nearly 90%. In early May, U.K. booksellers were making on average 18% of their normal sales.
Booksellers who were able to pivot quickly to alternative customer service options (online sales, curbside pickup, free delivery) did better, but in none of the countries where bookstores had to close did online or digital sales compensate fully for the loss of sales in physical bookshops. Even as bookstores began to reopen in many countries during April and May, a "huge damage had been done," according to the report, which said that "physical bookstores suffered a lot everywhere, and so did many small publishers, niche ones often, those which rely the most on bookshop sales."
The FEP report concluded that several "elements of fragility have been introduced or aggravated by the crisis: in all countries, alongside authors, bookshops have suffered the most, and for many of them the future remains uncertain. At the same time, the emergency confirmed the importance of brick-and-mortar bookshop sales for the sector, and its reliance on a healthy and diverse network of retailers.... Targeted support measures would greatly help to address the fragility of the value chain and to prop up the sector's resilience, thus enhancing the chances for a swift and widespread recovery." --Robert Gray