19 January 2015

Printed book sales increase

Waterstones have announced that sales of the Kindle e-book reader have decreased after seeing higher demand for the printed physical books. The UK's largest book retailing chain saw sales of physical books rise 5% in December 2014, at the expense of the popular e-reader.

James Daunt, Chief Executive said, "the increase in popularity could be due to the refurbishment of some of our stores. We've also given more control to the individual stores; we can't run the exact same bookshop in Blackpool as in Hampstead".

Amazon launched the Kindle, now in its seventh generation, in 2007. According to Forbes, Sales peaked in 2011 at around 13.44m. That figure fell to 9.7m in 2012, with sales flat the following year. At the same time, British consumers spent £2.2bn on print in 2013, compared with just £300m on e-books, according to Nielsen.

London bookstore Foyles has reported a surge in sales of physical books over Christmas.

Tim Waterstone, who founded the bookshop chain in 1982, argued that the printed word was far from dead, "the e-books have developed a share of the market, of course they have, but every indication - certainly from America - shows the share is already in decline. The indications are that it will do exactly the same in the UK."

To read the full article from The Telegraph, please click here