Independent booksellers enjoy ‘excellent’ Christmas as readers back local businesses

Independent bookshops enjoyed a bumper end to 2018, with "excellent" Christmas sales, and most are looking ahead with optimism, according to The Bookseller’s Indie Bookshop Christmas Trading Survey.

Fifty respondents to the annual survey, which concluded on 7th January, found a strong festive offering from publishers and a conscious effort by customers to support the high street paid off at the tills.

Compared with Christmas 2017, 53.2% said sales in 2018 were very good, with 27.6% saying sales were excellent. Just 8.5% of the 47 indies who responded to the question found sales to be “disappointing”.

Many are still to finalise their end-of-year accounts, but nevertheless 56.2% of 48 respondents said they had definitely seen an increase in sales year on year, with the percentage rise ranging from 1.5% to 80%. Just 8.3% said they had definitely seen sales fall, with percentages of 3% to 19% cited.
Standout titles included Becoming by Michelle Obama (Viking) and The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (Zaffre), as well as Stephen Hawking’s Brief Answers to Big Questions (John Murray) and Milkman by Anna Burns (Faber). The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book (Trapeze) also did well, with booksellers praising a strong Christmas offering from publishers.

Dinah Anderson of Bookshrop in Whitchurch, Shropshire, said: "There were good performers all round, especially signed copies both directly from the publishers and the wholesalers. The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith (Scholastic) came from nowhere and sold well until the last few weeks, when it dropped heavily, as these fads often do. A Field Guide to English Clergy by Fergus Butler-Gallie (Oneworld) and The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book were both worthy stocking fillers." Surprise hits included Guys Knit the Instruction Manual: Techniques, Patterns, Video Links by Nathan Taylor (Haynes), and one London-based bookseller responding to the survey said "true crime seems to be very popular. We believe it’s off the back of the trend towards podcasts and YouTubers."

A good range of books, an increase in support for the high street and bookshop events all helped boost Christmas trading. Booksellers said that customers also made a conscious effort to support indies and their local high street, rather than turning to online retailers for Christmas shopping.

"There was a very strong range of titles across the board—decent offerings of fiction and non-fiction, and probably the strongest offering we have been able to offer our customers in a good long while," said Andy Barr of London’s Belgravia Books. "There were no peak bestsellers, Michelle Obama’s Becoming aside, but strong sales across the range and plenty of scope for hand-selling."

Matt Taylor of Chepstow Books in Monmouthshire said: "I think the ‘love’ of bookshops has grown, due to positive campaigns like Books Are My Bag and the hard work put into customer service and events by bookshops every day of the year. There was a really strong mix of bookshop titles this year and lots of support of signed copies from key publishers."

Jo Heygate of Pages of Hackney said: "People tell us they’re making a conscious effort not to go on Amazon and want to support us. Also we enjoyed the Sally Rooney Normal People effect; the book was bought by both self purchase and gift. Michelle Obama transcended demographic, so many people came in for it and Becoming far outperformed any other non-fiction book in such a short space of time. Also, from customer feedback, our online gift guide brought a lot of people in-store, which was heartening."

David Makinson of The Holt Bookshop in Norfolk added: "Good weather helped and many loyal customers were determined to champion independents rather than use Amazon. ‘Use it or lose it’ seems to be a widely-held view."

Online competition, weather and issues with supply affected some bookshops in the run-up to Christmas. Booksellers in the north of England and in Ireland found the weather hit trading in the run-up to Christmas, with Storm Deirdre battering parts of the UK and Ireland with high winds, snow and freezing rain. Bob Johnston of The Gutter Bookshop, Dublin, said: "Saturday 15th December was a washout due to Storm Deirdre, and we ended up 30% down on the same Saturday in 2017, which was very worrying right before Christmas. Luckily we caught up the following week, with strong weekday sales and our busiest ever Saturday on 22nd December. Christmas Day landing on a Tuesday was an odd one for Sunday and Monday trading, but both went surprisingly well."

Supply and demand
Indies were split over problems with supply or availability of titles, with 51.1% of 48 respondents saying they had no problem and 48.9% saying they experienced issues with supply. Some booksellers reported "slight delays" with delivery from wholesalers and hold-ups on popular titles such as The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book.

Hereward Corbett of the Yellow-Lighted Bookshop in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, said: "The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book is a really beautifully produced paperback, with a map on one side and questions about the map on the other. We knew it would sell well at Christmas, but also knew it would be hard to reprint due to the nature of the design. Orion just didn’t print enough. Thank God we ordered in bulk. Everywhere [else], it was out of stock."

With Brexit looming, 56.5% of 48 of the indies surveyed said they did not feel the UK’s departure from the EU was affecting business, with 43.5% saying the divorce was hitting trade. One Northumberland-based bookseller said Brexit was affecting trade "in a positive way", with his shop "getting more people coming in to buy books on the subject". Others lamented consumer confidence being knocked by the "political situation", and said customers were being "cautious", with economic uncertainty making people "less inclined to spend".

Looking to the year ahead in terms of threats to indies in 2019, 66% warned economic uncertainty was the biggest threat to their business, with 42% still wary of online competition. Business rates (24%), competition from supermarkets (22%) and quality of publishing (10%) were also cited as threats to indies, with 34% of 50 respondents saying other factors, such as Brexit and the "death of the high street", were their biggest challenges. One Lincoln-based bookseller said the "possible death of the high street, lots of empty shops" could be a threat to her business.

Others were also worried about high street footfall. "It’s really sad, after all this time—half my life—that independent bookselling now feels impossible. Our high street has lost all its banks, and this Christmas saw a fabulous art gallery close," said one Shropshire-based bookseller. "Several really good businesses have closed over the past 10 years, and ours is no longer a destination high street, even if we are still a destination bookshop. I can’t survive in a town full of gift shops with no quality artisan shops."

Reflecting on the threats to business, Kelly Bradford of Beckenham Bookshop in south-east London said: "Business rates keep rising here. It’s a horrifying climate on the high street, and it is a big factor. It is not a very welcoming environment. In terms of competition from online retailers, only one customer told us they could find a book cheaper on Amazon this Christmas, which is encouraging. Competition from supermarkets and other larger retailers is a big factor. For example, W H Smith was selling Michelle Obama’s book at half price. Fortunately, people seem to be engaging with independents on the high street more. There is always a fear around economic uncertainty, but we seem to be doing OK in terms of quality of publishing."

Bradford added that the greatest opportunity to grow her business over the next 12 months was Brexit, "ironically... As much as it terrifies me, if huge companies are closing down, this stands to shake things up."

Booksellers Association president Nic Bottomley, who owns Bath indie Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, told The Bookseller: "When times are uncertain, it’s worrying for anyone on the high street. But books provide high value per pound... people are always wanting to spend money on books. Books enable you to understand the world and give readers the power to escape it. When Brexit was announced, in our shop we had the highest ever sales, with people wanting to understand the situation."

Overhead projections
With some bookshops in 2018 blaming closures on an increase in rent, 64.6% said rental rates were the same, with 33.3% reporting an increase, and a lucky 2.1% of 48 polled saying their rental rates were going down.

Traders once again introduced initiatives to help boost trade, with many indies using social media, loyalty cards, book signings and community events to increase footfall. Booksellers said they hoped to grow their business over the next 12 months by developing their online presence, increasing events and the number of signed copies stocked, as well as initiating more work with local schools to increase the number of children reading books. Half of the indies surveyed said they were joining forces on co-operative ventures with publishers, bookshops and schools, with traders involved in the Independent Bookshop Alliance (and others) planning author tours and "bookshop swap" events, whereby booksellers work in another bookshop to learn what that outlet does differently.

Overall, indies are looking forward to 2019, with 70% saying they are optimistic for the year ahead, 10% were feeling pessimistic, while 20% of the booksellers surveyed felt neither optimistic nor pessimistic.