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eBooks Made Up 7% of Dutch Book Sales in 2015, Most of Which Occur in Physical Bookstores

2376226345_05a7b2210e_bCB Logistics has released its quarterly infographic on the state of the Dutch book market and it shows that print books continue to dominate the market, with most being sold in physical bookstores.

More than 80% of the book sales tracked by CB Logistics were made in brick and mortar stores; in comparison, over half of US book sales occurred online (starting in 2013). The contrast between the two markets extends to ebooks sales; ebooks made up around 7% of book sales in the Netherlands, versus around a third of the US book market.

The stark contrast might be due to the sheer number of brick and mortar stores in the Netherlands. At 1,354, they far outnumber the 148 online booksellers.

Coincidentally, the infographic also informs us that the price of ebooks has been dropping for years, while physical books have become more expensive.

In 2010, an ebook cost around €11.25, while a physical book had an average price of about €13. In 2015, the average price of an ebook dropped to about €8 while the price of a paper book rose to €15. Also, the past few years have shown a shift away from bestsellers and towards the long tail. Bestsellers now constitute a smaller share of the total sales of books. Last year, they accounted for 12.8%, while in 2010 it was still 15.4%.

CB Logistics via Nu.nl

image by craigbooth

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Comments


Ruud Steltenpool June 15, 2016 um 12:08 pm

Which of the dozens of eBook definitions?
Anything non-paper?


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