According to the results of 2023, the book market in Russia will grow by 6.65% in monetary terms and will decrease by 9.07% in copies

According to the results of 2023, the book market in Russia will grow by 6.65% in monetary terms and will decrease by 9.07% in copies, according to the Ministry of Digital Development. The situation has developed due to the increase in the price of books, the decrease in the purchasing power of the population and the growth of piracy, experts believe. Traffic on pirated e-book resources has already increased by 20%, publishers emphasize.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the annual industry report of the Ministry of Digital Development on the state of the book market in 2022 and the prospects for its development. It follows from the document that by the end of 2023, the market will grow by 6.65% in money terms, and will decrease by 9.07% in physical terms (absolute figures are not given). In 2022, according to the Ministry of Digital Development, the market volume increased by 7.1%, to 101.6 billion rubles, of which the turnover of printed books grew by 7.5% year-on-year, to 90.7 billion rubles.

The report notes that bookstores remain the main sales channel. So, in 2022, they accounted for 53% of sales (about 40 billion rubles), while online stores accounted for about 43% (about 32 billion rubles).

According to published data, the leading bookselling chain in terms of the number of outlets remains Chitai-gorod-Bukvoed (700 stores as of January 2023, 723 as of February 2022). Earlier, the network reported that by the end of 2023 they plan to open another 20-30 stores (see Kommersant on June 22). In second place is Book Labyrinth, in January the chain had 103 outlets, in February 2022 – 91. The top three is closed by Moscow House of Books, in January the chain opened 17 stores, in February 2022 – 19. The report it is specified that the number of bookstores in recent years has remained “relatively stable” precisely due to the opening of new stores “Chitay-Gorod – Bukvoed”.

An important role in the retail sale of books is played by trading platforms of FMCG networks (Fix Price, Russian Post, Auchan, Metro, OK, Detsky Mir), which offer books as an accompanying product, according to report, but in 2022 the channel continued to decline and amounted to 3.02 billion rubles. (in 2021, the indicator was at the level of 3.31 billion rubles). At the end of the year, sales of books in copies in the turnover of FMCG networks fell by 24.6%. These losses were not able to compensate for either the increase in the average price (by 20.3% on average) or the expansion of the representation of books in Fix Price and Detsky Mir stores: “The trend is due to the lack of sufficient demand.” Meanwhile, Fix Price itself is talking about an increase in demand in the book segment in the first quarter.

The market grew in money due to the increase in the cost of books, caused by an increase in the costs of their production, Eksmo-AST notes. After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, there was an acute shortage of personnel in book printing, serious problems with coated paper, consumables, equipment and spare parts for it (see Kommersant of March 11 and October 5, 2022).

The main barriers to the growth of the industry in “Eksmo-AST” consider the decline in consumer activity, the reduction in the number of bookstores and the growth of piracy. Thus, according to the holding, since February, the traffic of pirated e-book resources has grown by 20%, exceeding 100 million visits per month. Potential drivers of market growth in the publishing house are the recovery of digital sales, the inclusion of the industry in the anti-piracy memorandum, the growth of investment in retail and film adaptations of works by young authors.

“In 2022, thanks to state support measures, it was possible to prevent an unreasonable increase in paper prices, postpone the payment of insurance premiums, and temporarily zero duties on some printing materials,” the Ministry of Digital Development notes. “The effect partly continued to support the market at the beginning of 2023. We can hope that the new driver will be the autumn-winter season and pre-New Year sales.”

The market will continue to grow in monetary terms in 2023 and fall in copies, since the issues of the forced narrowing of the portfolio of publishers, the problems of printing houses, and the rise in paper prices still remain unresolved, the interlocutor of Kommersant in the book market notes: “Perhaps these issues will be able to solve new benefits from the state, but as long as the pricing policy for printed books from publishers remains the same, it is too early to hope for a return of purchasing activity.

Julia Yurasova