Amazon will test free book delivery and anger booksellers (even more)

BOOKS – Booksellers are up against Amazon, once again. This Thursday, November 7, the French Bookstore Union spoke in the columns of the magazine Capital regarding the recent announcement by the global e-commerce giant to set up, via its automated lockers, a free book delivery solution.

“When large platforms like Amazon, or others, offer shipping costs, they know that competitors do not have the financial means to do so, explains the general delegate Guillaume Husson to the magazine. We then fall into dumping “, he explains with a term describing the fact that a foreign company sells products at very low prices on the European market.

This initiative by Amazon, which a law sought to prohibit, is “ an extra drop of water in a bowl that has been overflowing for a very long time”, according to the unionist. “ We can ask ourselves a lot of questionshe had already asked AFP a few days earlier. Is a locker a business? Is it enough to be within the confines of a hypermarket to satisfy the terms of the law? »

Since October 2023, Amazon.fr and other online sellers must charge a minimum of 3 euros for book delivery for any order less than 35 euros. A regulation intended to encourage the French to buy their books in a bookstore or other point of sale. It was contested by Amazon before the administrative courts, which requested the opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Skeptical booksellers

And without even waiting for this opinion, Amazon found a solution that it believes complies with the texts in force. “For their book orders, customers can now choose free delivery from a vast network of more than 2,500 collection points throughout France. This option is available for a selection of collection points located in businesses selling books in particular »he said in a press release.

These collection points are automated lockers generally located in the shopping arcade of supermarkets, or counters at the checkout or reception of various businesses, mainly supermarkets.

“More than 70% of these collection points are located in rural areas or small towns”insists Amazon, giving examples of supermarkets in Cher, Côtes-d'Armor, Oise or Var. “We are excited to offer this new, convenient and cost-effective delivery option to readers today.”indicated the books manager of Amazon.fr, Géraldine Codron, quoted in a press release.

The law of December 30, 2021 on the book economy provides that the delivery of new books “cannot under any circumstances” be free, “unless the book is collected from a book retail store”. The SLF said it was skeptical of the legality of this measure. “ Amazon is an actor without faith or law, which attacks a text supported by the government and voted unanimously by parliamentarians », concludes the representative of the booksellers’ union.

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