Academic Report 2015

2014–2015 has proved to be another challenging year for Academic Bookselling in the regions and nationally. Bookselling was impacted by protest and student strikes on Campuses including the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), Durban University of Technology (DUT) and Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT). The protests often turned violent and this was directly during the peak bookselling period at the beginning of the year. The sales lost at this time are difficult to recover and set a negative tone for the year ahead.

There has been very little in the way of communication or information from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) on any developments leading into the past year nor for the year ahead. News reports have mentioned investigations and commissions setup by the Honourable Minister for Higher Education, Mr Blade Nzimande, into financial mismanagement at NSFAS but again there has been a notable lack of information on this count. Reports and budgets suggest that Total NSFAS funding has been increased, however for books this appears to have been reduced with a direct impact to booksellers. There has been a notable decrease in the number of books purchased as reported by some of our largest members. This is a worrying trend. Where students do have bursary funds it appears that many have chosen to spend their funds on devices as opposed to books. The UNISA tender for Official Booksellers was issued in July. The selection process is underway and the outcome has not been announced. There was a wide range of interest from SA Bookseller Association members and non-members. What was interesting was the wide range of booksellers present at the briefing session which included a number of booksellers who have not been previous Official Booksellers. Industry players and members are awaiting the outcome.

The merger of Kalahari and Take-a-lot was a development in the Academic Sector as well. When viewed in conjunction with the take-over of Juta Bookstores by Protea the year before this indicates a degree of consolidation in the sector. The merger is obviously within the larger context of the state and future of online retail in South Africa. The online retailers have and continue to be hyper competitive in the effort to grow market share and revenue, not profit as per the Amazon Model. Books and academic books appear to be a gateway to this market. This merger may change the landscape and accelerate change. Most “brick and mortar” booksellers were very concerned by the pricing models of some of the online booksellers. In some instances they have priced well below the market, effectively as loss leaders, in an apparent attempt to gain customer numbers in the student market.

While there is no way to establish how this impacts on the overall Academic book sales it does impact on students perceptions. It appears to them that books are “overpriced” where in reality they are “underpriced”.

Concerns are that this model is good for online consumers and competition but it does, like in other industries and countries, create questions about the long term development of bookselling as a specialised, professional industry. Within this context Academic booksellers are looking forward to 2016. As with any industry it is the uncertainty that poses the greatest risks but also new opportunities.

Mohamed Kharwa