Bookshops feel crisis and '' Amazon effect ''

Sell books in Brazil is no easy task, especially when the economy is back. In 2016, the marketing of books in the country shrank by 8.9%, undermining the profitability of publishers and, mainly, of bookstores. While producers of books have suffered with the macroeconomic scenario, traditional retailers had to deal also with the customer migration to online sales and the arrival of a powerful competitor: the American Amazon.
The result was a thud in the accounts of the big bookstores, which have undertaken a strong expansion in recent years, encouraged by shopping malls, who saw the megastores cultural "anchors" of its shopping malls. "Many networks have grown so cluttered and out of the regions where they had captive audience, not always with good results," said a market source.
The difficulty of pass-through of inflation for prices is one of the stress points of the sector. "My book most '' pop '' of 2008 had cover price of 29.90 R$. Last year, my big bet cost, again, $29.90, "compares a source of a large national Publisher. The average value for work today is R$ 38.66. Although there has been a replacement of 15% in the last two years, the average discount applied at retail is 17.9%, which makes the actual average price be R$ 31.74. "The costs have grown, but industry revenues did not follow", says Marcos Pereira, President of the National Syndicate of Book Publishers (Snel).
In two years, the Livraria Cultura saw your recipe fall 17%. One of the great villains of the company''s operation was the bet in a shop in downtown Rio de Janeiro, say market sources. The State, the President of culture, Sergio Herz, admitted that the Unit brings challenges, largely by suffering from the sales downturn due to the economic situation of the river and with the protests which are usually carried out in the region, next to the Town Hall.
According to the State, the company found, who buys books for consignment, has passed on to publishers money relating to sales delays they would get six months. "Publishers unable to bear this delay for too long," said a source. Herz, however, ensures that there is no delay. According to him, what happened was a renegotiation of the terms with publishers.
FNAC. Beyond culture, other retailers face challenges. Last week, the French Fnac announced that seeks a partner in the country, where has had underwhelming results. Hail has reduced your bet on books and expanded space for technology, games and area rental cafes. The company sold your Publisher and continues registering prejudice – in the nine first months of 2016, the losses were R$ 27,900,000.
The bookstore of the village decreased the size of your store at shopping Cidade Jardim, Sao Paulo, 2500 m2 to 400 m2 and must do the same in the JK Iguatemi shopping mall, which has 1700 m2. According to the owner of the company, Samuel Seibel, these operations do not follow the pattern of the network, whose stores have on average 750 m2.
Just in the last two years, when the results of the bookstores began to worsen, the giant Amazon began operation of your physical books in Brazil. The American company fell into the graces of the publishing companies because, unlike the main physical bookstores, buy the books, instead of catching them on consignment.
A major publisher told the State that sales of his books through Amazon, they were close to zero two years ago, accounted for 10% of revenues in 2016. Another company said that its sales in the Amazon have grown 70% last year.
According to the American company, have own stock helps to let the operation more "round". Daniel Andrew, General Manager for printed books from Amazon Brazil, the acquisition of copy leaves the editors '' cash flow more predictable. The Culture bookstores, Nobel, transom and the village, however, claimed the State that Amazon still don''t care.