Macron promises French booksellers level playing field on delivery costs

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised a bill will be presented to parliament to tighten up on France’s 1981 fixed book price law, ensuring a level playing field for physical and online retailers on home postage and delivery costs.

“There must be a single price for all books—those bought in a bookshop or received at home,” he said last week while launching a Culture Pass for 18-year-olds that is worth ‚Ǩ300 and can be spent on a variety of cultural goods and activities.

A 2014 law specified that online retailers could not offer free book delivery on top of the maximum 5% discount allowed on new book prices, but Amazon got around that by charging one centime (less than 1p) for deliveries.

This compares with an average of ‚Ǩ6.50 euros for a bookshop, according to the French Booksellers Association (Syndicat de la Librairie Fran√ßaise). “If a bookshop paid for deliveries, it would be selling at a loss,” the SLF said in a statement on its website. More than 1,500 bricks and mortar outlets offer online sales or click and collect. "But development of this activity is hampered by delivery cost dumping,” the SLF added.

Welcoming Macron’s commitment, the association noted that senator Laure Darcos had lodged a parliamentary member’s bill fixing minimum delivery costs for all booksellers, whether physical or online.

Darcos’ bill, lodged in December, is due for debate by the Senate on 8th June. The SLF backs the bill, and calls for it to include mixed consignments of books and other goods, and loyalty card purchases. FNAC, the largest French cultural products chain, offers free three-day book deliveries for loyalty-card holders.

“It is not clear whether Macron was talking about another similar bill, perhaps to be presented to the National Assembly, or whether he meant the government is backing Ms Darcos’ bill,” SLF director Guillaume Husson told The Bookseller. “Anything is possible.”