Subject to delivery costs for all book orders since last October, Amazon denounced the authorities’ decision on Thursday. According to the company, it has a severe impact on the French, who have scaled back and read less.
Did the European and French authorities make a mistake by imposing delivery charges for all orders of new books worth more than 35 euros? Thursday April 25, 2024, in a note linked to the Spring of Rurality, Amazon made its disapproval clearly understood by relaying the results of a survey commissioned from the Ifop institute, which demonstrates that unfortunately many French people have reduce their purchases and read less, due to ever more impacted purchasing power.
A delivery fee of 3 euros is imposed for book orders under 35 euros
On October 7, 2023, the landscape of online book sales changed in France. While some have cried protectionism and the death of reading for the most remote French people, others have hailed a victory for independent physical bookstores. As a reminder, since this date, the delivery of new books to your home or collection point is subject to costs amounting to:
- at 3 euros for an order containing less than 35 euros of new books,
- or 0.01 euros if the order contains 35 euros or more of new books.
This applies to all online book orders (or which include one or more books among other products). And the regulations do not only concern Amazon but all players in the sector, including booksellers. Amazon, on the other hand, has made its Prime customers lose the advantage of free delivery for books, even if they retain the possibility of being delivered in 24 hours or sometimes less.
Since delivery costs, many consumers have reduced their book budget
If the new regulations were supposed to do good for the free software sector, there is a catch. According to an Ifop survey carried out in February 2024 for the e-commerce giant Amazon, 63% of readers say they have seen their purchasing power impacted by the introduction of delivery costs. Worse, 40% of consumers even go so far as to admit to having reduced their purchases, and therefore their reading time.
Amazon is lining up behind the speech of the European Commission, which pointed out a few months ago the absence of an impact study on the measure. The figures in any case seem to prove the American actor right, since less than 3 in 10 (26%) of book buyers go to an independent bookstore more often due to the increase in delivery costs alone.
The vast majority of readers (71%) ultimately favor the supermarket or large brands such as Fnac or Cultura. A terrible disavowal for the measure which will undoubtedly never bring everyone into agreement.
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