Annual general trade report August 2013 – July 2014

The past twelve months have been difficult for the Book Trade, as the recession continued to affect consumers and the weakness of the rand against the pound and dollar pushed up the prices of imported books. Sales in the second half of 2013 were lower than 2012 for every week including Christmas week. The first 10 weeks of 2014 were difficult weeks, with revenues down on 2013. From mid March, however the situation started to improve, with revenues improving every week on the 2013 sales.

Sales Performance
Revenue for the past year (July 2013 – June 2014) fell by 6,1%, from R1,54 billion to R1,45 billion, and volumes fell by 13,2 % from 11,5 million units to 10 million units. The average selling price (ASP) increased from R134.01 to R144.85, an increase of 8,1%.
When comparing the second half of 2013 to the second half of 2012, revenue was 10,5% down, with volumes down by 17,2,%, despite a 7,7% increase in the average selling price (ASP) from R131.96 to R142.16
The situation improved somewhat in the first 24 weeks of 2014, where revenues showed a decrease of just 0,5% (R699 million to R696 million) over the same period in 2013, despite an 8,4% increase in ASP from R136.58 to R148,04, which was offset by a 8,2% decrease in unit sales (5,1 million units to 4,7 million units).
A comparison of week on week, shows that Volume sales for 2014 were lower than for the same period last year, with the exception of week 19, when the unit sales were 50 000 more than week 19 last year. Interestingly enough, value sales in 2014 were up on 2013 or weeks 9-12, and from week 14 to week 24. No doubt that part of this growth is attributable to Prof Tim Noakes “The Real Meal Revolution”, where over 85 000 units have sold since November last year, totalling R25 million at retail. This title has certainly transformed the fortunes of Quivertree Publishers.
Interestingly 2014 sales of adult non – fiction grew by 2%, which is a reversal of last year, which showed a fall of 7% from 2012 to 2013. Sales of adult fiction titles fell by 8%, which is a reversal on the same period last year, where adult fiction sales grew by 2% from 2012. Children’s non – fiction sales increased by 2%, and children’s fiction sales grew by 8%.
New Developments
The big news this time last year was the proposed sale of Exclusive Books by Times Media. We now know that the group was bought in October 2013 by Global Capital Pty Ltd, headed by CEO Benjamin Trisk. We are delighted to hear that the new owners are booklovers and are determined to make books their central focus.
The merger of Penguin and Random House Struik finally took place in South Africa at the beginning of July, with the company now called Penguin Random House South Africa. Distribution for the Penguin titles has moved back to Booksite Afrika, so that all books from the new company are now warehoused and supplied by Booksite Afrika.

Industry Threats
The weakening of the Rand against the major currencies, has not helped our industry. Since April 2013 the Rand depreciated against the dollar from approx R9.30 to approx R10.50 at the end of December. 2014 brought no relief as the Rand continued to fall in Jan to a low of 11.28. Since then the rand has fluctuated between 10.30 and 11.20, with it strengthening to 10.60 against the dollar at the end of July.
Against the pound, the rand depreciated from R14.15 to R17.40 at the end of December. January saw the rand fall to its lowest this year at R18.68 to the pound. Since then the rand has fluctuated between 17.29 and 18.45 to the pound. This of course has resulted in huge price increases across all imported books, which has impacted on the Trade and Academic sectors in particular.
Customers continue to use the internet to search for bargains and often find cheaper (especially US) editions on local & foreign internet websites. The number of electronic devices in the SA market continues to grow, which of course is impacting on SA booksellers as more customers turn from hard copy books to e-books. The weakness of the Rand will also encourage consumers to turn to the internet as they search for cheaper books, in particular American editions.
An ongoing concern for bookshops supplying books to schools, is the increase in the number of publishers who are supplying books (particularly text books & readers) directly to schools at discounts ranging from 10% to 30%. This is putting publishers in direct competition with their own customers, and in many cases has forced booksellers to increase the discounts which they have to offer to schools, and in some cases even close their doors.

Book Fairs And Literary Festivals
In an effort to maintain relevance in an increasingly challenging environment, and to generate sales by marketing books as a source of entertainment, booksellers are holding more functions and more bookfairs / literary festivals are taking place. Some of the key ones are:

Time of the Writer – 17 to 22 March 2014
Presented by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), the 17th edition took place in Durban between 17th and 22nd March with 20 authors in attendance, mainly from South Africa and Africa. The mix of book launches, panel discussions, seminars & workshops has proved attractive, with attendance rising steadily each year. This year, the Time of the Writer School Short Story Competition was run to encourage creative expression in high school learners. Winners were awarded cash prizes, book vouchers and complimentary tickets to the festival.

Knysna Literary Festival – 18 to 23 March
The Festival was launched in 2010 and has grown in stature over the past few years and is now regarded as a major attraction on the Garden Route. This year they achieved a record attendance of 1 500 at the main event, with all events sold out. In addition to this, approximately 1 000 learners attended the children’s theatre. The young writers’ competition attracted entries in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa, and will be extended to a wider range of rural schools next year. The 2015 festival takes place from 18th to 22nd March
Franschhoek Literary Festival – 16 to 18 May 2014
The 2014 Franschhoek Literary Festival was the biggest to date, in terms of tickets sold and the number of events and authors. Fifteen thousand visitors attended 105 paid-for events, as well as a number of free events. This year 172 authors, journalists and subject specialists appeared on the various panels. Of these, by far the majority were local writers, in keeping with our commitment to celebrating home-grown books.

Kingsmead Book Fair – 24 May 2014
The third annual Kingsmead Book Fair took place at Kingsmead College in Johannesburg on Saturday 24th May. For the first time, tickets were sold on a per session basis, as opposed to one ticket for the whole day, with over 3900 visitors, an increase of almost 80% on 2013. Showcasing the talents of over 70 authors, journalists and newsmakers, the Fair hosted a children’s and an adult programme. The adult programme covered a range of fascinating topics and discussions with authors such as Edwin Cameron, Mandy Wiener, Moeletsi Mbeki,Tony Leon, Alex Boraine, Niq Mhlongo,Douglas Kruger, Deon Meyer, Sipho Hlongwane, and Pieter-Dirk Uys, to name but a few.

Bloody Book Week – 6 to 9 August 2014
The 4th Bloody Book Week – Africa’s first crime book festival – promises to be bigger and better than ever, with 30 discussions and author events scheduled all over Johannesburg. Featuring bestselling British author Peter James and over 13 local authors, including Deon Meyer, Mandy Weiner and Amanda Coetzee, as well as journalists, forensic specialists and crime investigators.

Open Book Literary Festival – 17 to 21 September 2014
It’s hard to believe that 2014 sees the fourth year of the celebration of all things literary that is Open Book. 2013 saw more than 8000 people attend events over the five days and this year we will be aiming to top that number. The Open Book Comics Fest and Poetica are also both back and will be happening on the 20th and 21st of September. From issues to entertainment, there will be something to interest everyone and we hope to see lots of new faces at the Fugard!

Janine O’connor, Chairperson Sa Booksellers Trade Sector
(With thanks to Nielsen Bookscan for the sales stats, Frankie Murray for the Open Book report and Ann Donald for the Franschoek Literary Festival report.)