Germany's largest bookstore chain Thalia successfully asserts itself against the competition from online retailers such as Amazon. In the financial year 2018/2019, the bookseller increased its sales by about six percent, as Thalia CEO Michael Busch announced.
The chain was able to grow not only in online trading, also in the last weakening branches, the business was better again. Like-for-like sales increased by two percent.
Not yet included in these figures is the Mayersche bookstore, number four in the German book trade. Thalia and Mayersche had joined forces in the summer. The Mayersche bookstore also developed according to the information positive and achieved a sales increase of 3.5 percent.
The merger with Mayersche Buchhandlung is just one part of Thalia's expansion strategy. In the past financial year, 13 more bookstores in Germany were acquired through acquisitions under the Thalia umbrella. In addition, the chain opened five new locations in Dresden, Berlin (two), Höxter and Stuttgart.
As a result, the total turnover in the stationary business could even be increased by six percent in the end. However, the company did not name concrete figures for sales and earnings.