The Bookseller.com

1st December 2008

Play.com pushes for book uplift

01.05.08 Sarah Butler

Play.com, the UK’s second-largest online bookseller, is planning to at least double its book sales in the next 18 months.

The firm wants to build stronger direct partnerships with publishers in a bid to drive sales, and also intends to increase marketing. So far, Play has focused on books with crossover appeal for its CD and DVD-buying customers, but it now wants to expand into new areas such as academic titles.

It is estimated that Play controls less than 5% of the UK’s £378m online book market, with Amazon taking 80% plus. However, Play says its book sales rose by 50% in February, and it wants to build on that momentum. Its overall sales, including CDs, DVDs, electronics, computing and mobile phones, were £340m in 2007.

Managing director Stuart Rowe said: “We can see books becoming a really important part of our business, irrelevant of what Amazon is doing. That would be great for customers and great for us—and I think publishers like to see somebody else taking the ball and running with it online.”

Rowe said Play was already discussing with publishers how to work more closely on promotions and develop relationships with authors. He said Play would continue to work with distributors and wholesalers—although industry insiders suggested that it was trying to “do an Amazon” and increase the proportion of books it sourced direct from publishers, to decrease prices.

Nick Bubb, an analyst at Pali International, said Play was a “good operation” with a globally admired website. He said: “The book market is still reasonably buoyant and the growth has been driven by online and supermarket operators. There is room for Play, but whether they can build the reputation in books that they have in other categories remains to be seen.”

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