6 months after a first study commissioned from the IFOP, Amazon does it again, with new figures devoted to book purchases by the French. In a delicate economic context, regulating the shipping costs of books, by a minimum amount of €3 for shipping, would have consequences on the reading and purchasing practices of the population.
To conduct its study, the IFOP turned to 12,005 French people aged 18 and over, using a self-administered online questionnaire, distributed last August.
An unfavorable context
Over one year, consumer prices increased by 2.3% in July 2024, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. In other words, the economic context remains tense, with significant consequences for culture in general and books in particular. According to the responses collected by the IFOP, 47% of French people believe that their purchasing power has decreased, while 53% consider it stable or increasing.
In detail, the middle and low-income categories would be the most affected, and households located in rural or autonomous rural areas [loin d’un pôle central ou hors d’une aire de plus de 50.000 habitants, NdR].
79% of French people who feel a drop in purchasing power plan to reduce their cultural spending, compared to 73% in February 2024. In fact, the frequency of book purchases seems to have suffered the blow: if 73% of French people say they buy new books (compared to 74% in February 2024), only 16% do so at least once a month (compared to 24% in February 2024).
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The proportion of weekly purchases would have halved in a few months (from 6 to 3%), while monthly purchases would be slightly less affected (from 18 to 12%). One-off purchases, during the year, would be preserved, when purchases “once or twice a year » increase significantly (from 19 to 30%). French readers are not completely depriving themselves: 27% do not buy new books, compared to 26% a few months previously.
An unpopular measure?
Since October 2023, ordering a new book on the internet requires payment of shipping costs of a minimum amount of €3, when the total amount of the basket is less than €35 (not taking into account than the prices of the works). This measure was intended to restore competition between large online sales platforms, including Amazon, and independent bookstores. Indeed, if the first could offer competitive shipping costs, at €0.1, the second found themselves forced to pay a higher bill to customers.
Unsurprisingly, the participants’ responses have not changed much: 62% consider that this minimum amount of shipping costs affects their purchasing power, compared to 38% who support the opposite. The age groups between 18 and 49 would be the most affected, and the lower and poor categories on the socio-economic side.
44% of respondents would believe that the introduction of minimum shipping costs of €3 would have led to a reduction in book purchases and a reduction in their reading practice. New consumption practices are becoming more popular, such as purchasing at physical points of sale (64% do this more frequently), lending books between friends and family (56%) or even borrowing from a library (51% ).
The resistant bookstore
The central question that the IFOP study commissioned by Amazon attempts to answer is the following: have the mandatory €3 shipping costs redirected part of the customer base towards the bookstore, as desired by the legislator? 26% of respondents indicate that they are turning to independent bookstores, as at the time of the previous study on the subject, last April.
Hypermarkets and supermarkets, for their part, are in sharp decline, with 25% of respondents frequenting them, compared to 41% a few months earlier. Large cultural product brands, such as Fnac and Cultura, come out on top, with 36%, compared to 22% last April.
A distribution which corresponds more or less to the current sharing of the book market: according to the Ministry of Culture, large cultural stores cover 28.4% in 2023, ahead of bookstores, with 23.3%, and websites ( 22.2%). Non-specialized large stores are at 18.1%.
Amazon highlights, in its communication, a massive use of hyper/supermarkets, large cultural brands and press houses for book purchases (70%), compared to 26% for independent bookstores.
But the distribution over the territory as well as the number of brands undoubtedly weigh on this choice: in 2023, there were 2,300 hypermarkets and 5,875 supermarkets in France, according to the Federation of Commerce and Distribution, 227 Fnac, 108 Cultura and around thirty of Gibert Joseph brands, as well as 530 press houses. That’s a total of 9,000 points of sale, for around 3,700 independent bookstores… Would Amazon become the best defender of bookstores, pleading for more openings?
« Pay more or read less »
In the communication which accompanies the IFOP study, Amazon once again emphasizes the effects deemed deleterious of minimum shipping costs on access to books and reading. “In a country where more than 90% of municipalities do not have a bookstore, introducing compulsory shipping costs on books amounts to taxing reading, forcing many French people to choose between paying more or reading less. Reading is a major national cause that must mobilize all stakeholders, and public cultural policies should instead rely on the strengths of online offerings to promote broad access to all culture, everywhere in France.“, declares Frédéric Duval, general director of Amazon.fr.
When questioned, the French subsidiary of the multinational did not want to share figures concerning the sale of books, nor even indicate a trajectory of results in this area, insisting instead on the effects of the law on the reading practices of the French. . The firm also encourages public authorities to prefer other support measures for bookstores, such as the establishment of a dedicated postal rate.
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On the side of the French Bookstore Union, the Darcos law, the adoption of which was widely supported, obviously remains defended. “This study, although it is oriented on many points, confirms that a majority of readers have turned more towards physical points of sale, in particular independent bookstores, which was the objective of the law», assures Guillaume Husson, general delegate of the organization.
The only figures on the subject, however, remain those of Amazon and the IFOP: the Ministry of Culture has promised an evaluation of the effects of the legislation, but two after its entry into force, therefore at the end of 2025. The French Bookstore Union nevertheless promises “.to analyze more closely the impact of the Darcos law» using data from the Bookstore Observatory, bookstores and other sales channels, excluding Amazon.
The results will be published once collection from all participants has been completed. “For now, the first reports show a slight drop in shipments of books to customers’ homes, offset by a more significant increase in“clicked and removed”,” explains Guillaume Husson.
Amazon’s fight against the minimum shipping rate is not new. The multinational had expressed itself, through its general director Frédéric Duval, with an article published in 2021. This assured that inhabitants of rural areas would be particularly penalized by the measure, already citing data from the IFOP.
Remember that the American multinational had referred the matter to the Council of State in June 2023 for “excess of power”, but the institution has still not given its opinion on the subject, simply referring it to the Court of Justice of European Union. Amazon also relied on the detailed opinion of the European Commission, which dates back to February 2023: it denounced an unjustified derogation from the applicable legislation, the absence of demonstration of the adequacy and proportionality of the proposed measure , as well as the fact that no alternative options have been evaluated…
Opportunity, next battle
While a possible tax on second-hand book sales is looming, suggested by Emmanuel Macron last April in order to support the book industry, Amazon and the IFOP are anticipating with a series of questions on the subject – Amazon proposing on its platform for used books, via its marketplace and third-party sellers.
We thus discover, without too much surprise, that 92% of buyers of second-hand books favor them for “save money“, but also to buy more books and thus read more. Between new and second-hand, 81% of respondents choose the second, and 80% assure that second-hand also interests them for its ecological virtues.
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74% first look for a second-hand title before possibly buying it new. 71% rely on the physical network (bookstore, garage sales, second-hand booksellers, etc.), compared to 55% who mainly turn to the internet.
Here too, the idea of a tax is rather poorly received, since 33% of respondents say they are in favor of it, compared to 67% who are opposed to it. In detail, if this measure were implemented, libraries, media libraries and relatives would become greater suppliers of books, for 68% of respondents. 49% assure that their purchases of second-hand books would decrease as a result, as would their reading practice.
Photographie : illustration, Province of British Columbia, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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