Amazon France has announced a new free delivery option for books, despite a law that strictly regulates shipping costs to favor local bookstores. By using automated lockers as collection points, the e-commerce giant claims to comply with the legislation. But this initiative raises questions, particularly from the French Bookstore Union, which questions the conformity of this practice with the text of the law.
Amazon offers free delivery via lockers
Since October 1, 2023, regulations require online sales platforms, including Amazon, to charge a minimum of three euros for the delivery of new books, unless the order exceeds 35 euros. The law of December 30, 2021, adopted to protect independent bookstores in the face of competition from e-commerce giants, stipulates that free delivery is prohibited, except when the customer collects the book from a physical store dedicated to the sale of books.
To get around this restriction, Amazon has set up a free collection system at more than 2,500 points in France, mainly automated lockers placed in shopping centers and supermarkets.. According to Amazon, this solution is fully compliant with the texts, and makes it possible to meet strong customer demand.
« For their book orders, customers can now choose free delivery to a vast network of collection points », Explained the company in a press release. This network, she specifies, covers a majority of rural areas and small towns, where bookstores are sometimes rare.
An initiative criticized by independent booksellers
This new practice by Amazon did not fail to provoke a reaction from the French Bookstore Union (SLF), which sees this system as an attempt to circumvent the rules in force. “ We can ask ourselves a lot of questions. Is a locker a business? Is it enough to be within the confines of a hypermarket to satisfy the terms of the law? » asked Guillaume Husson, general delegate of the SLF. For him, Amazon is tackling a text voted unanimously by parliamentarians, with the support of the government, and designed to counter the growth of online commerce in the face of physical bookstores.
The SLF, which brings together independent bookstores, is concerned about the consequences of such an initiative, considering that it undermines efforts to protect local commerce and leaves room for unfair competition. The union plans to question authorities to ensure the practice is thoroughly examined.
This Amazon strategy comes while the legality of French law is still under examination before the Court of Justice of the European Union, requested for an opinion by the French Council of State. The European verdict could determine whether or not France can limit free shipping for book orders.
