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Sales in the online book trade rose significantly last year – for the second time in a row.
As reported by the Federal Statistical Office based on data from the German Book Trade Association, sales in 2021 grew by a further 16 percent compared to the first year of Corona.
In 2020 it had already increased by 21 percent compared to the previous year.
This was announced by the Federal Office at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair.
With a turnover of 2.6 billion euros last year, online trade accounted for more than a quarter (27 percent) of the total turnover in the book industry (9.6 billion euros).
Internet book trade includes all book purchases on the Internet and thus also those in the web shops of traditional bookstores.
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However, other parts of the book industry recorded sharp declines in sales in 2020 and 2021: According to the information, the stationary book trade was still the most important sales channel for books in 2021 with sales of 3.8 billion euros and a share of 39 percent of the total sales in the industry.
In the pre-pandemic year 2019, however, sales there were still 4.3 billion euros and the share of total sales was 46 percent.
Sales of e-books have increased in recent years: while 1.9 million e-books were sold in 2010, by 2020 there were already 35.8 million digital books.
The average price paid for an e-book fell from EUR 10.71 to EUR 6.63.
skr/AFP/dpa