British bookstore chain Waterstones is currently in the process of making a number of redundancies at its London head office, though it would not specify how many jobs are being cut, the Bookseller reported. A spokesperson said the company is "in consultation with those whose Piccadilly-based roles are affected. These are part of a number of measures undertaken to align the overheads of the business to the level of sales now being achieved."
In addition, Waterstones confirmed that since lockdown ended it has chosen not to reopen several of its stores, including "its campus branches and one at Leadenhall Market in London. Its Covent Garden store, which reopened when lockdown measures eased, closed again after a week's trading, owing to the lack of footfall in central London," the Bookseller wrote.
"Waterstones has reopened all of its shops, excepting a small number where the circumstances make this impractical," the spokesperson said. "As for almost all high street retailers, sales are lower than before the pandemic, notably in our city-center shops. Notwithstanding the strong online performance of Waterstones.com, it is necessary to reduce the cost base of the business to reflect the new reality of our overall trading."
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Sales by French independent booksellers rose by 29% year on year between May 12--the day after France began its gradual easing of the lockdown--and July 12, according to the French Booksellers Association (Syndicat de la Librairie Française). The Bookseller cautioned, however, that "the figures, coming from the 250 members of the SLF's observatory which represent a cross-section of the trade, also show that sales are still down 14% overall since January 1."
Vincent Montagne, president of the French Publishers Association, "predicted a decline of 15% or less in sales for the year, instead of the 30% flagged at lockdown," due in part to the €230 million (about $259 million) the government allocated to the sector since the beginning of the crisis, the Bookseller wrote. Montagne told Les Echos the public might have found a taste for reading during the two months of lockdown, perhaps due to an absence of the performing arts and cinema.
The Bookseller cited Les Echos in noting that France's rentrée littéraire between mid-August and October, "when hundreds of new titles are published ahead of the literary prize season in the autumn, looks promising. Some publishers are delaying releases, but most are maintaining their initial plans."
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The Italian book market's year-on-year revenue losses improved from -20% in April to -11% in July, according to the Italian Publishers Association. The Bookseller reported that in addition to showing rebounding revenues, AIE's study "revealed the market share of bookshops and large-scale distribution experienced a partial increase in the past few months. Physical bookshops went from claiming 52% of sales in April to 56% in July, while the market share of online stores slid correspondingly, from 48% to 44%."
AIE concluded that the relative comeback in sales was due to the fact that, since mid-June, Italians have returned to buying as much as last year in bookshops and through large-scale distribution, while online purchases have increased compared to 2019, "thus allowing a partial recoup of market shares lost during the previous months."
"The data we present today shows encouraging signs of an upturn," said AIE president Ricardo Franco Levi. "The book market reveals a path to recovery for the entire Italian economy."
The study also showed that after registering 70% fewer weekly sales year on year between March and April, since mid-June bookshops and online stores registered with Nielsen's Arianna data service (excluding Amazon) had returned to 2019 levels, with sales peaking at 2.5% up year on year for the week ending July 19. "If we add Amazon, despite not having accurate week-by-week data, this past month's result is highly positive," AIE said. --Robert Gray