The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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Publishers in push to sell direct online

23.08.07 Graeme Neill and Katherine Rushton

Booksellers fear publishers' moves to sell direct to consumers online will further erode their own sales, as the UK's two largest players, Random House and Hachette, make forays into direct selling.

Random has just launched a new direct-to-consumer site, www.rbooks.co.uk, which offers discounts of up to 20% and signed copies. HarperCollins is poised to start selling directly by Christmas, while Penguin has just relaunched its site and will discount titles by up to 25%. All are aiming to build relationships with readers and store information about their tastes.

Meanwhile, Hachette is rolling out new-look sites across its publishing divisions from this month, which will all sell direct to consumers. Hachette is aiming to offer next-day delivery as well as "added value" products such as signed editions.

Peter Bowron, m.d. of Random House, said: "Any channel, however small, that gives us the opportunity to present [a wider range of] books and reach consumers is an avenue that we will pursue."

Francis Bennett, head of the Bookseller Association's digital taskforce, said there was concern from retailers "that publishers could potentially cut out many booksellers and have an effect on the survival of the industry as a whole". He added: "There's a real fear and its origins are behind what we are doing with the digitisation taskforce."

Independent booksellers also hit out at the moves, with Warwick Books owner Keith Smith querying the need for publishers to sell direct. "Publishers already have channels to consumers [through bookshops and internet retailers] so do they really need another one? It can only be competitive with other sellers and do harm." Vivian Archer at Newham Books said she did not know why publishers need to move into bookselling. "Independents are getting hit all the time and when we find a way to fight back something else happens."

But Hachette c.e.o. Tim Hely Hutchinson said that "at this stage" bypassing the trade for anything other than schoolbooks or special editions was unlikely to be a viable or attractive option for publishers. "We still feel the consumer wants to secure the full range of books and they are therefore much better served by a retailer," he said. But he added that if sales through retailers were to be eroded in the future, he could imagine publishers taking a greater slice of direct sales.

Publisher Todays Picks Hachette Penguin online Random House website Graeme Neill and Katherine Rushton