A year of highs and lows for booksellers
2021 has been relatively good for book retailers in terms of sales.
Growth certainly shifted in the latter half of the year, albeit from high levels and tough comparative figures. The total annual growth rate was thus 6 percent. But all is not entirely well. Since the beginning of fall there have been some problems with printing. At the same time as the appetite for reading was strong, there were paper shortages, the relocation of book production from Asia to Europe and new coronavirus outbreaks around the world.
This led to delays in deliveries, price increases and concerns that books to be gifted at Christmas would not reach the shelves on time. The printers managed to deliver the books on schedule, but the difficult situation has still not been resolved. At present, paper producers are allocating paper quotas to printers. In addition, rising electricity prices, shortages of other input goods and the threat of strikes are adding to the problems. At this stage, there is no clear answer as to when the situation may turn around, but there are suspicions that it may last until the summer of 2022.
Source: The E-barometern annual report 2021
