THE collapse of Redgroup and its chain of Borders and Angus & Robertson bookshops, combined with the rise of the e-book, severely dented book sales in Australia last year. Sales dipped by 7.1 per cent to 60.4 million, with their value dropping 12.6 per cent to $1.1 billion, according to figures from Nielsen BookScan.
Redgroup's shops accounted for about 20 per cent of the market and Nielsen figures showed that without the impact of their demise, sales actually grew by 1.3 per cent, with their value sliding only fractionally.
Nielsen general manager Shaun Symonds said the Redgroup factor was the biggest influence on the market. ''But some independent shops have reported not a bad Christmas - after all, shoppers have to go somewhere.'' He said the rise of the e-book, for which there is no overall data, was also having an impact on traditional book sales.