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The Government of Québec has confirmed it will table legislation in the New Year expected to limit discounts on new books to 10%.
But while the move would address an important challenge facing independent booksellers, it would hurt the sector in general, the Canadian bookselling industry has said.
The mainly French-speaking Canadian province’s law would cover physical and digital books. It would allow retailers to offer larger discounts nine months after publication.
Carolyn Wood, executive director of the Association of Canadian Publishers, was broadly supportive, saying the proposal "stimulates a discussion that needs to happen . . . that is the particular strain on independent booksellers represented by the discounting practices of large-scale booksellers over the past years."
However, pricing regulation would hurt the book industry as a whole, said Nathalie St-Pierre, vice-president of the Retail Council Canada's Québec branch.
"The fact that you would suppress the rebates currently available will not induce consumers to move to the independent bookstores to buy," she warned.
She added that limiting discounts ignores how consumers are focused on finding the lowest prices and best deals.
St-Pierre noted consumers' reasons for purchasing books are more complex than simple pricing. For instance, consumers are also looking for the convenience of buying different kinds of products in one place, which has led to, for example, supermarkets and drug stores carrying books. Regulating book prices "is not going to address those changes", she said.
Instead, the government should strengthen support of measures for independent stores other than price regulation, such as initiatives that offer institutions such as schools or libraries rebates for purchasing from certain independent bookstores, she added.