“Pretty” good mood in the book trade despite a difficult year
Published: Thursday, Mar 7th 2024, 13:21
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As expected, sales in the Swiss-German book market stagnated in 2023. However, the mood among booksellers is "pretty good", according to a survey.
The Swiss-German book trade had "not an easy year" in 2023. This is what the Swiss Booksellers and Publishers Association (SBVV) wrote in its annual market report published on Thursday. Total sales amounted to 586.4 million Swiss francs, an increase of two percent compared to the previous year. However, this increase was only due to the inclusion of new business in the report that was not included in previous years.
In addition, fewer books were sold overall. Retailers were therefore able to maintain sales because they increased prices. Against this backdrop, it is worth noting that the mood among booksellers is "pretty good", according to the press release. This was the result of a survey of independent bookshops in all parts of Switzerland last year.
In terms of German-speaking Switzerland, the number of bookshops affiliated to the SBCA actually increased last year, by seven to 268, all of which were newly founded in recent years.
Publishers sell directly to customers
Sales of books to private customers remained almost stable compared to the previous year, with total sales of CHF 433 million. The lion's share of this was generated by brick-and-mortar bookshops and online stores (CHF 268.8 million). However, publishers competed with bookstores in business with private customers. Their turnover in this area rose to 19.1 million francs in 2023, compared to 18.3 million francs in the previous year.
The top dog among Swiss publishers is the Zurich-based fiction publisher Diogenes, followed by the non-fiction publisher AT in Aarau. The most important sales market for books from Switzerland is Germany. According to estimates, every 35th book sold there comes from Switzerland. Conversely, 80 percent of books sold in Switzerland come from Germany and Austria.
©Keystone/SDA
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