How much cheaper e-books are?The analysis of e-book prices statistics in small language e-book markets

Arūnas GudinavičiusVilnius University

5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PUBLISHING TRENDS AND CONTEXTSOctober 20-21, 2017

Research questions

▪ What are differences in specific book titles prices and format availability in small language book markets?

▪ Can this easy accessible data (statistical data available on internet book shops) contribute to deeper understanding of particular markets, for ex. variety of formats, relation between price or number of formats available to market size?

▪ To get a snapshot of current price levels for later research

Tools for price comparisons

Book price researches: comparison of Internet and conventional Retailers - Brynjolfsson and Smith (2000), price competition in the online book industry - Clay et al (2002), Free or Fixed Prices on Books-Patterns - Stockmann (2014)

Methodology

▪ Statistical comparison of the same book titles on sale in internet bookshops

▪ Books written and published in recent few years were used, mostly bestsellers

▪ Books published (and translated) in native languages of small language book markets were used

▪ 1-2 largest online bookshops were used in each small language book market

Limitations:

▪ Small sample of book titles

▪ Just one genre of the books

▪ Just bestsellers

▪ Differences of publication date (some titles not translated yet, some titles already out of sale)

The book set (10 titles)

Jo Nesbø PolicePaula Hawkins The Girl on the TrainSalla Simukka As White as SnowHarlan Coben Six yearsLars Kepler The HypnotistLiza Marklund Studio 69Joėl Dicker The Truth About the Harry Quebert AffairMalin Persson Giolito Quicksand George R. R. Martin A Dance with DragonsGillian Flynn Sharp Objects

Countries and VAT

CountryPopulation, mln. VAT, e-books

VAT, printed books

Sweden 9,9 25% 6%Finland 5,5 24% 10%Croatia 4,2 25% 5%Lithuania 2,9 21% 9%Slovenia 2,1 22% 9,5%Estonia 1,3 20% 9%

Countries with fixed book prices: Argentina, Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain.

Availability of book formats (e-book, soft cover, hard cover, audio book)

34

2420 20

139

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Sweden Finland Slovenia Lithuania Estonia Croatia

Max number of formats: 10 titles x 4 formats = 40

Readers‘ view: average e-book/soft cover/hard cover/audio book prices (incl. VAT) in Sweden, Finland, Slovenia, Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia

€ 0,00

€ 5,00

€ 10,00

€ 15,00

€ 20,00

€ 25,00

€ 30,00

€ 35,00

Sweden Lithuania Finland Estonia Slovenia Croatia

E-book average price, €Hard cover book average price, €Soft (pocket) cover book average price, €Audio book average price, €

▪ Sweden and Finland (largest markets) – all four formats of books; Lithuania – just e-book and hard cover books; Croatia – just hard cover and soft cover

▪ Smallest markets (Estonia, Slovenia) – most expensive books; Largest market (Sweden) – cheapest books

▪ Cheapest format – e-book, except Sweden with soft cover as cheapest format

▪ Hard cover – huge price difference in Sweden, Finland, Slovenia; slight difference in Lithuania, Estonia and Croatia.

Publishers‘ view: average e-book/soft cover/hard cover/audio book prices (excl. VAT) in Sweden, Finland, Slovenia, Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia

€ 0,00

€ 5,00

€ 10,00

€ 15,00

€ 20,00

€ 25,00

€ 30,00

€ 35,00

Sweden Lithuania Finland Estonia Slovenia Croatia

E-book average price, €Hard cover book average price, €Soft (pocket) cover book average price, €Audio book average price, €

▪ In all markets e-books are slightly less profitable after the deduction of VAT, but the absence of printing and storage expenses still keeps retail prices lower to compare with other formats.

▪ From publishers‘ point of view hard cover is the format with largest income per item (huge difference between the prices except Lithuania and Croatia).

E-book price change when comparing to soft cover, %

* – hard covers used instead of soft covers

27,5%

-6,1% -8,6%

-21,7% -24,8%

14,5%

-19,6% -21,0%

-34,1% -38,7%-50,0%

-40,0%

-30,0%

-20,0%

-10,0%

0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

Sweden Slovenia Lithuania* Estonia FinlandE-book price to compare soft cover price (incl. VAT), %E-book price to compare soft cover price (excl. VAT), %

Hard covers price when comparing soft covers (incl. VAT), %

220,5%

101,5% 92,4%

20,9% 12,5%0,0%

50,0%

100,0%

150,0%

200,0%

250,0%

Sweden Slovenia Finland Estonia Croatia

Lithuania is absent due absence of soft cover format

The results

▪ The bigger the market, the more formats available (Croatia is an exception)

▪ The bigger the market, the prices are lower (again, Croatia is an exception, Lithuania also)

▪ E-book format is still cheapest format to buy and read, thought the difference to soft cover format is small. Sweden (largest market) is exception with soft cover format as cheapest

▪ Hard cover format is exceptionally expensive in Sweden, Finland and Slovenia, but there are no large difference in Lithuania, Estonia and Croatia

▪ Most expensive books in Slovenia (more research is needed to find out is it related with fixed book price)

▪ Cheapest books are in Croatia, but the availability of formats (in particular on e-books) and titles are poorest

How much cheaper e-books are?The analysis of e-book prices statistics in small language e-book markets

Arūnas GudinavičiusVilnius University

5th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PUBLISHING TRENDS AND CONTEXTSOctober 20-21, 2017