A little over a year after the application of the decree reducing the shipping costs of new Books to a minimum of three euros for online orders of up to 35 euros, Amazon announced, at the beginning of November, a return to free book deliveries. . A decision that the e-commerce giant intends to materialize through the use of automated lockers (or “lockers”) in more than 2,500 collection points, located in book sales businesses.
As for professionals in the sector, the project has raised many concerns, with publishers and booksellers denouncing a “circumvention of the law” in force. In reaction, the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati therefore received the opinion of the book mediator on Tuesday, November 19. This will be delivered at the end of January.
“The battle that is underway is a battle for or against the defense of the single price”
“I wonder what the conditions for withdrawing book orders should be, sufficient to meet the requirements provided for by law so that free delivery can be applied while respecting the broad balances desired by the legislator,” stated the Minister of Culture, in the mission letter addressed to the book mediator.
“We contacted the minister a fortnight ago, upon learning of Amazon's project. This entry is a very good thing. This tends to prove that the minister also has doubts about the compliance of Amazon's action with regard to the Darcos law. indicates Guillaume Hussongeneral delegate of the French Bookstore Union (SLF) joined by Weekly Books.
“It is important that everyone can realize that the battle that is underway is a battle for or against the defense of the law of one price. We have, on the other hand, an actor who uses dumping and who is fighting against our ecosystem”he added. For its part, the National Publishing Union (SNE) once again disapproved “any deliberate maneuver to circumvent the law”.
After the hearings, an opinion submitted at the end of January
To illuminate Jean-Philippe Mochonbook mediator who will give his opinion “by the end of January”, he told us, several hearings of the representative organizations, first and foremost the SLF, the SNE and Amazon, will take place from the end of November to the beginning of January.
“It will be a question of questioning Amazon on the precise scope of its announcement, of putting on the table the different interpretations of the law and of seeking the one which is the most faithful both to its letter and to its spirit », detailed Jean-Philippe Mochon, adding that “it may be, in the end, a judge who will decide, but the subject now deserves to be posed as clearly and precisely as possible.”
Note that the 2,500 collection points affected by the operation carried out by Amazon (out of the more than 30,000 with which Amazon works throughout the year) were selected because they sell books among many other products.
These are most often supermarkets and hypermarkets, mainly located outside large cities. In a press release, the e-commerce giant cites, among others, the towns of Mehun-sur-Yèvre (Cher), Le Plessis-Belleville (Oise), Broons (Côtes-d'Armor), Vinon-sur- Verdon (Var).
