The Bookseller.com

9th January 2009

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Booksellers push up Christmas prices

18.12.07 Graeme Neill

Retailers have pushed up their prices on the bestselling Christmas titles as they look to maximise margin in the final days of trading. A wide range of seasonal successes have been heavily discounted across the board over the past few months.

However, according to figures from Nielsen BookScan, the average selling price of this year's Christmas hits has been nudged upwards over the past seven days. For the week ending 15th December, Nigella Express had an actual selling price of £13.22, up from £12.61 for the week ending 24th November. Richard Hammond's autobiography On The Edge had an a.s.p. of £10.72, up from a low of £9.89 in the week ending 17th November.

W H Smith is currently selling Nigella Express at £6 off its r.r.p, Russell Brand at £4 off and Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home at £7 off. Borders is offering £3 off Guinness World Records, while Waterstone's is offering Lewis Hamilton's autobiography at £5 off and Sir Bobby Charlton's memoirs at a £7 discount.

Despite pulling back from full-scale discounting, retailers are still aggressively pushing their promotions in the crucial final full week of trading. Smiths is advertising up to 60% off titles, with the Dangerous Book for Boys Yearbook retailing for £5. Waterstone's is promoting up to half price off its "big titles", while Borders sent out the latest in its blanket email voucher campaign last week, offering 50% off any non-discounted book.

The only exception to this shift in pricing is Amazon.co.uk, which slashed prices as it approached its final shipping deadlines. Among the titles that were discounted on Tuesday, the final deadline for its free super saver delivery, was Judy Parkinson's I Before E at 50% discount (£4.99), Richard Hammond at 60% (£7.59) and Nigella Express at 52% (£12).

Retail Graeme Neill Christmas