Shipping costs at 1 symbolic penny, it’s over! From October 7, 2023, a floor price of 3 euros for delivery will be applied to all book orders under 35 euros placed online.
Good news for booksellers, bad news for consumers, very bad news for Amazon. A ministerial decree published on Friday April 7, 2023 at Official newspaper sets the regulatory threshold for shipping costs at a minimum of 3 euros for any order of books placed online for an amount of less than 35 euros. This measure will come into effect in six months, i.e. on October 7, 2023. This text, signed by the Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak and by his colleague for the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, is part of the law thread of the Darcos law of December 30, 2021 which intended to support the book economy and encourage readers to go more to bookstores.
After the adoption of the single book price in 1981 with the Lang’s law, France is therefore once again at the forefront when it comes to defending the interests of the book economy and its publishers. Internet users who are used to buying books online, and especially from the pet peeve of booksellers, Amazon, will therefore soon have to pay more, even in the event of a mixed order – with a book and another type of product – or through a loyalty program – like Amazon Prime, to name it. Note that beyond 35 euros, the floor threshold for minimum billing of shipping costs will fall to a symbolic penny.
Shipping costs at 3 euros minimum: an anti-Amazon measure?
On closer inspection, this measure could turn out to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it could actually encourage readers to visit their neighborhood bookstores more frequently. But, on the other hand, in an inflationary context, it could also push Internet users to place orders for grouped books and an amount greater than 35 euros in order to be able to take advantage of shipping costs reduced to one euro cent. In addition, one wonders what impact this new measure will have on the activity of independent online bookstores, small or large and competing with the giant Amazon, because at equal cost, the delivery times offered today by the American group remain the tightest on the market.
For his part, the Syndicate of the French Bookstore (SLF) pleads for the implementation of a more advantageous postal rate, considering that “this measure is an important first step in rebalancing competition between retailers in the online book sales market”. In particular, the application of the postage threshold to mixed orders and to loyalty programs seems likely to avoid “bypasses”. He fears, however, that the reintroduction of virtually free purchases beyond 35 euros will reduce the scope of the measure and maintain “a culture of gratuity contrary to the logic of the single price of the book”.
As for the booksellers, they are doing pretty well, thank you! In 2022 alone, no less than 142 new bookstores have opened their doors throughout the territory, taking advantage of the growing taste of the French for reading; especially since confinement. Nobody will complain about this appetite for an unconnected hobby…