Six months and time for the first assessment. Pushed by the French Bookstore Union, the Ministry of Culture has imposed, since October 7, 2023, an invoicing of a minimum of 3 euros in shipping costs for all orders of new books below 35 euros. The stated objective was to support sales in independent bookstores, by forcing the platforms and especially Amazon – whose Prime subscribers only paid 1 euro cent for delivery – to raise their prices.
However, Amazon publishes, Thursday April 25, a study commissioned from the IFOP and carried out with a sample of two thousand four people, which analyzes the effects of this measure. “These new shipping costs impact 63% of book buyers”, underlines the study, and particularly affects “the lowest incomes” (between 74% and 76% for low-income groups and the poor). The wealthiest are also affected by this measure (at 41%). It is only beyond 35 euros of book orders that the platforms can continue to charge 1 euro cent for shipping costs.
The effects since October have been tangible and, according to the survey, alarming: according to the IFOP, four out of ten book buyers say “have reduced their purchases and therefore read less”. However, Amazon does not give any indication of the extent of the drop in its sales of books in France since October 2023.
Hypermarkets and supermarkets
The conclusions of the study seem all the more worrying as this very controversial regulatory modification does not really seem to achieve its objective: to help independent booksellers. The vast majority of book buyers who postpone their purchases at physical points of sale due to the increase in shipping costs prefer hypermarkets and supermarkets, large brands and press houses (71%). Independent bookstores only earn 26% of these transfers, which are mainly concentrated in Paris.
The IFOP recalls that for 70% of rural online buyers, this type of consumption is justified by “a geographical distance and an isolation which complicates access to culture”. An argument that Amazon had already used in vain to oppose the reform put in place.
Furthermore, the polling institute analyzed the consequences of the drop in purchasing power of a large part of the French on their budget allocated to culture. The study ensures that “20 million French people have already reduced it” or plan to do so (for 73% of respondents affected by this drop in purchasing power). Unsurprisingly, this arbitration concerns disadvantaged categories much more (39% will drastically reduce this budget, compared to 29% on average) than wealthy categories.
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