German book market posts small 2019 rise

Even though the holiday season was below par, Germany’s book market narrowly avoided another major disappointment and finished the year on a positive note. Overall sales were up in 2019 by 1.4% in value. In volume they followed a recent pattern and were down marginally, by 0.4%.

For months the industry had been quite hopeful to finish the year with solid growth well above 2%. While sales had been gradually declining from a year-high of 4.1% in May, by end-November statistics compiled by trade paper Buchreport and based on data from charts company Media Control still showed cumulated sales growth of 2.2%.

But December, the most important month of the bookselling calendar, didn’t deliver as expected. From the start of the holiday season the tills were ringing well short of expectations. In the three weeks before Christmas sales were down 4%, 9% and 6% respectively. Even after a last-minute spending spree which saw 23rd December emerge as the strongest shopping day of the year by a distance, sales for the month were down 2.1% in value and 3% in volume, thus cutting further into the year’s growth.

Media Control covers the book market as a whole (stationery bookstores, e-commerce, department stores and travel bookstores). It also supplies a separate survey for bricks-and-mortar bookstores only. They were marginally ahead for the year in value (+0.5%) and down 1.4% in volume. December was dismal with sales down 3.7% in value and 4.6% in volume. But for rising prices the overall picture would have been even bleaker.

Book prices continue to be a major issue in Germany. The average price rose by 1.9% in the last 12 months, a clear sign that publishers have been listening to booksellers who have long been arguing that books are too cheap. In the process the traditional price barriers of €9.99 for mass-market paperbacks and €19.99 for hardbacks have been shelved. Publishers are also increasingly getting rid of .99 prices for clean numbers.

In the absence of a must-have Christmas book, sales have been spread across a large range of titles and topics. Fiction continued to lose ground during the year (-0.8%), but especially in December (-4.9%). Children’s books were up 4.6% for the year and 1.3% in December. While non-fiction fared badly in December (-5.4%). The top selling Christmas title was Sebastian Fitzek’s latest thriller Das Geschenk (The Gift).