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Nearly a quarter of all books sold on Hive since October have been digital, Gardners has revealed.
The book wholesaler launched the consumer-facing site in June, linking with 350 independent booksellers and giving them the much called-for ability to compete with larger, chain retailers in selling e-books.
In September, the company announced it would be the first UK platform with the capability to sell Google e-books and now Hive says nearly 25% of all sales through Hive have been digital. However, the company would not give exact sales figures and Google declined to give an update on its digital book sales in the UK.
Targeted customers emails focussing on e-books as people were downloading digital books onto their new gifted e-readers just after Christmas helped to achieve Hive’s e-book sales, the company said, which remained strong into January.
Publishers have previously reported e-book sales surged post-Christmas, with HarperCollins’ sales of its digital books increasing by 355% in the seven days from Boxing Day and Hachette reporting an increase of 190% in the week of 26th December–1st January.
Bob Jackson, commercial director of Gardners, said: “2012 will see continuing development and investment into Hive and with the support of our network of retailers, we are focused on building upon the success Hive has had establishing itself in the relatively short time the site has been live.”
Going forward Hive will be adding Music CD’s to its existing entertainment product, with all Hive retailers receiving a portion of the sale on CDs in the same way that they do for DVDs, Jackson said.
Hive’s Top Ten e-book sales were:
1 - Her Last Scream by J A Kerley
2 - Little Girls Lost by J A Kerley
3 - The Alchemist's Secret by Scott Mariani
4 - The Affair by Lee Child
5 - Buried Alive by J A Kerley
6 - A Winter's Tale by Trisha Ashley
7 - The Fear Index by Robert Harris
8 - The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson
9 - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
10 - War Horse by Michael Morpurgo