Like second-hand clothing, furniture or household appliances, second-hand books are doing well. “Since the economic crisis of 2008, readers have been constantly looking for low prices”assures Nicolas Vielle, operating director of the Gibert group, a historic player in the sector.. The trend also responds to ecological concerns: “The opportunity saves a lot of volumes from the trash cans. Solidarity and sustainable companies such as Recyclivre, La Ressourcerie or Emmaüs have thus made the environment a real argument”specifies the sociologist Vincent Chabault, author of the recent The Used Book. Sociology of a trade in transition (PUL, 2022). Also taken into account is the desacralization of the book – we would now prefer “use to possession, especially among young people”according to Matthieu de Montchalin, owner of the L’Armitière bookstore in Rouen – and, on the sidelines, the taste for vintage: “There is an aesthetic research, the charm of the covers of the past”adds Vincent Chabault.
Pending the results of the major study currently being carried out by Sofia (an organization managing library lending rights), which will be known in 2023, the figures available, fragmented, not very recent and above all from surveys, nevertheless show an increase of the market: in 2018, 28% of books purchased were used, compared to 24% in 2014 (source GfK for the Ministry of Culture).
The turn of the platforms
If bookstores like Gibert Joseph and Boulinier, but also, to a lesser extent, booksellers, garage sales, flea markets and flea markets are still usual places of purchase, the appearance of Amazon in 1995, then other online sales sites such as Rakuten (ex-PriceMinister), Momox, Chapitre, Fnac.com, but also ad sites such as eBay, Leboncoin or Vinted, was a turning point. “The platforms, which offer an abundant, technical and globalized offer, drain 50% of second-hand sales”says Vincent Chabault.
At Rakuten, a behemoth bringing together individuals, booksellers and other professionals in the sector such as Gibert, 81% of books sold in August 2022 were second-hand, with the second-hand market share increasing by 4% compared to 2021. popular genres: comics, French literature, manga, detective novels. Platforms have become all the more important since most books acquired on the Internet are not acquired by chance. “With us, 72% of purchases are made through direct research”underlines Matthieu Denime, commercial director of Rakuten. And when a site offers the same book new and used, the choice is quickly made.
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