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Canadian book publishers have express alarm at higher levels of returns than normal this summer from Indigo Books and Music, Canada's dominant book retailer.
Toronto-based ECW Press publisher Jack David told The Bookseller that returns skyrocketed between May and July, although he did not make statistics available. Another publisher, told the Canadian book trade magazine Quill & Quire, that the situation was "catastrophic".
Carolyn Wood, executive director of the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP), confirmed that some members had mentioned they were having a hard time with Indigo returns. "I would say it varies between our membership. Some have mentioned it’s been a heavy summer, but others are OK," Wood told The Bookseller. She said the biggest problem publishers faced was the sudden loss of sales.
"It has quite an effect on cash flow. Sales that have been made are suddenly unmade, often unexpectedly. This is hard, because the summer is when publishers are printing their fall [autumn] books, and printers need to be paid," she explained.
Indigo has not offered an explanation to any of the complaining publishing firms. The retailer did not return calls from The Bookseller. According to Quill & Quire Indigo has assured some publishers that the worst is now over. But ECW’s David said: "The worst was over in 2002, and 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. The worst is always over."
Indigo didn’t explain the returns spike to David either, but he had his own list of reasons. "Occasionally they overbuy, or it could be that they’re getting ready for the fall, or it could be that our books are awful and no one wants to buy them. Who am I to speculate? Returns are like the weather. One day you look outside and there’s heavy returns, and the next day there’s not," he said.
Wood stressed that Indigo would want to reduce returns, just like publishers. "Returns are often a solution for retailers, not usually for publishers, but returns come with their own set of problems and costs as well," she explained.
Indigo reported first quarter results in June, with a 1.6% revenue increase, a C$2.3m net loss and a 9.1% decrease in online sales. An ACP official said that anecdotally, 70% of bookstore sales in Canada were made by Indigo; 60% of total book sales.