German booksellers end 2016 on positive note

After eight years of declining or at best static sales, German book retailers ended 2016 on a positive note. Following an unexpectedly strong November when sales increased 7.4%, December was also up year-on-year by 1.4%. This was enough to report overall growth of 0.9% for the whole year.

Cheers among booksellers were subdued, though. Not only was the bar set low after a weak 2015 when overall sales were down 1.6% on the previous year, but data from Media Control showed that the positive outcome was not the result of rising volume sales of books and media products (excluding textbooks and e-commerce), which were down a disappointing 1.3%, but of rising prices.

The pricing of books has been a major issue in Germany for some years. The average price of books has risen by 2.2% in the last 12 months and is seen as a clear sign that publishers are finally heeding to booksellers’ demands for higher prices. The traditional price barriers of €9.99 for mass-market paperbacks and €19.99 for hardbacks are breaking, with clean numbers slowly being introduced. For example, of the latest top 20 SPIEGEL hardback fiction bestsellers three are sold at €22.00 and one each at €18.00 and €24.00.

As a whole 2016 was a rollercoaster ride for German booksellers. After a strong first quarter which saw sales rise 2.4%, the tide turned during the summer months. The second quarter was down 2.4%, the third quarter only marginally up by 0.5%. It was left to the fourth and final quarter to bring the bacon home with sales rising 2.2%. As always, December was by far the strongest month of the year with a share of nearly 19% of year round sales.  

According to booksellers, Christmas sales were spread over a wide range of titles. Children’s books were up 2.4%, mainly boosted by Jeff Kinney’s latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child which was also the bestselling title of the year overall. Fiction rose 1.4% in December, with Das Paket (The Package), the latest psychological thriller by German crime specialist Sebastian Fitzek, heading the bestsellers lists.  

No figures are available yet for e-books and online sales. These will be published by the trade organization Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels later in the spring.