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The debate around steep discounting intensified at the Booksellers Association Conference yesterday (11th September), with retailers lamenting that the trend is causing the industry to “haemorrhage profit”.
Speaking on a panel about campaign "hits and misses" at Conference Aston in Birmingham, Chris Rushby, bookseller at Jarrold & Sons in Norwich, told delegates that the close proximity of his shop to Waterstones, Tesco and WH Smith had meant that his business has decided to "compete head on" with bigger retailers and offer deep discounts.
"A promiscuous book buyer is going to know value," Rushby said. "We've got three competing stores within seventy-five yards of us. We've chosen to make no profits [on these titles], so that people know they can trust us on price. Booksellers can either ignore big discounts, or take on the major retailers at their own game. Either way, the industry is haemorrhaging profit."
However, this decision was criticised by a bookseller who argued that as a larger independent bookseller, Jarrold's was complicit in "telling [bigger retailers] that it is okay" to discount titles heavily.
“I can’t even buy these titles [for the prices these books are sold at in bigger retailers] from wholesalers - I don’t stand a hope in hell", one delegate said. "I can go to Tesco and buy them cheaper than what I can buy from Gardners or publishers - and that I feel is wrong. You’re already making a loss. I feel disheartened to hear that you felt you had to come down. You’re telling them that that’s okay. When you’re a big indie, you’re setting a standard for smaller ones. Because if we all gather together [to fight the practice] it would make a difference.”
Fleur Sinclair, owner of Sevenoaks Books in Kent, said she actively chooses not to stock the big bestsellers because she is unable to compete on price. “It’s just not in my interest, and it makes our shop seem bad value if I’m not meeting the discount," she said. "Although, I'm still in quandry because Martina Cole is the one and only famous author that lives in the vinicity. But stocking her is so hard, as her titles are so cheap everywhere. It doesn’t reflect good value to our customers [if we’re not able to discount].”
Sinclair had decided to stock Into the Water by Paula Hawkins (Doubleday), which was priced at £20, and discount it, but said that “almost nobody asked us for it", so the shop had to return copies.
"It cost so much more than [Hawkins' first book] The Girl on the Train (Doubleday) which was sold at £12.99. We discounted [Into the Water] to try and match competitors prices, but despite reasonable reviews, it didn’t really sell. If I taken a small number, and not have taken the time or space to give it extra promotion I would’ve thought the were sales fine.”
She added: “So many big campaign books are printed with prices they aren’t intended to be sold at; it devalues the work of the author, the pride of ownership for a reader and profitability for bookshops if they are to appear competitive in the eyes of their customer… I understand that with Brexit, print costs are soaring, but with all discussions we have about inclusivity, it seems that books aren’t for everyone."
Booksellers agreed that indies were best-placed to give "added value" on titles, with Sue Lake of White Rose Books in North Yorkshire urging indie booksellers to be "really creative" about extra perks they could offer customers instead of deep discounting.
“We're never going to change mindset of those who want to get things for really cheap, but I refuse to sell books at cost," Lake said. "I’m not there to do that. Got to pay myself, my staff, and my bills. It’s stupid. We’ve got a cafe so we are fortunate - we can offer free coffee with the sale of a book. I would advise you to find something else, to be really creative - you can offer a hand made book mark. It's all about added value. We've got to stop thinking about discounting, and start thinking about adding value. Don’t sell books at a loss, ever."
Sinclair added that signed stock makes a "tremendous difference" to the added value indies can offer.
"It's slightly disheartening when big chains are able to command [signed stock]. We’re told [by publishers] ‘we think we can get you signed stock, but we don’t know when’. Waterstones are able to say 'pre-order a signed copy at half price', but we’re like 'we don’t even know if we can get them'. We need something special or we need to be included. I think the big battle is between high street and the internet. I wish the high street could be inclusive to include chains and indies, because we’re not competition to big chains if we were able to offer the same things as them."
During the session, which was chaired by The Bookselller's online editor and producer Sarah Shaffi, Sinclair also said that cookery books were becoming "increasingly hard" for independent booksellers to sell because they are so "heavily discounted in supermarkets", where shoppers are also able to buy ingredients.
"These books are becoming harder and harder to stock. Will it matter to publishers if we stop stocking things like this all together? For example, quite a lot of indie booksellers say they've never stocked Joe Wicks, and that obviously hasn't affected his sales, so is it important for us to stock these things?”
Earlier this year, indie booksellers slammed the heavy discounting of new hardback titles by larger retailers anticipating the release of Philip Pullman's first Book of Dust novel. Pullman himself has also waded into the debate by raising the possibility of a return to fixed book prices.
The conference also saw the presentation of a new report commissioned by the BA which revealed that bookshops contribute £1.9bn to the UK economy every year and pay 11 times more corporation tax than Amazon, among other findings.
BA president Rosamund de la Hay used her opening address to praise the report, and also called on publishers not to forget the "growing" market for physical CDs when making plans for their audiobook businesses.