You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
The German book industry reported cumulated sales growth of 2.3% for the first six months of 2019 despite two sharp declines in March and June, when sales were down 11.8% and 7.1% respectively.
According to the trade paper Buchreport the positive result was partly due to an increased average price (+2.5%). The number of sold books was marginally down, by 0.2%. The best month this year so far has been April when sales surged 20% despite two fewer shopping days over Easter.
As per categories, the demand for non-fiction titles continued to be strong with sales up 11.9% between January and end-June. Children’s books rose 4.4% in the period and how-to titles 2.4%, but fiction remained weak with sales only marginally up 0.2%.
In June non-fiction was the only major category reporting growth (+2.5%), while fiction (-7.7%), children’s books (-7.8%), how-to (-8.2%) and especially professional titles (-11.4%) were hit by low customer demand.
Sales in the other two German-speaking markets in continental Europa were also up for the six months. Switzerland reported growth of 1.2%, while Austria was the best of the three countries (+2.7%).