Shelf AwarenessAustralian online retailer Booktopia has bought Bookworld, Penguin Random House Australia's online book retailer, uniting Australia's two main online booksellers that together represent about $90 million (US$65.5 million), or 80%, of domestic online book sales, according to the Financial Review. Its chief rival is no shocker: Amazon sells an estimated $200 million to $350 million (US$145.6 million to $255 million) in books to Australia.
Penguin Random House Australia bought Bookworld in 2011 from the bankrupt REDGroup Retail, which had also owned Borders and Angus & Robertson. Gabrielle Coyne, Penguin Random House Australia CEO, told the Bookseller: "Bookworld and Booktopia share the same commitment to delivering a first class online experience for Australian readers, and together will have the economies of scale and the brands to strengthen and grow an important channel."
James Webber, CEO of Bookworld, who is leaving the company, said, "I am extremely proud of what the Bookworld team have achieved in such a short time and it has been very gratifying to see this recognised by the industry awards we have won over the last couple of years."
Booktopia CEO Tony Nash told the Financial Review: "We have a 10,000-square-metre facility in Sydney and have 90 staff. Once we integrate those teams it will be profitable and will make a fantastic contribution to what we are currently doing." He said Booktopia has about 1.7 million registered users and Bookworld about 1.5 million, with some overlap.
The two sites list about four million titles each, but Booktopia has "100,000 titles in stock at its dedicated online fulfillment centre in Homebush and a wider range of backlist and academic titles," the Financial Review said.
Australian online book sales have increased 26% a year over the past five years, according to IBISWorld, but still account for only about 7% of the overall book retail market.
2 comments:
Dear Graham,
"(...) Australia's two main online booksellers (...) represent about $90 million (US$65.5 million), or 80%, of domestic online book sales, according to the Financial Review. Its chief rival is no shocker: Amazon sells an estimated $200 million to $350 million (US$145.6 million to $255 million) in books to Australia."
Could you please explain why $90 mill. represent 80% of domestic online book sales, while $200 to $350 mill. do represent... what exactly? Thanks a lot, best regards from Germany, Folkert
Booktopia To Take On Amazon After Buying Rival Bookworld
Posted at 10:50AM Monday 03 Aug 2015
Online book retailer Booktopia has Amazon's $300 million Australian book revenue in its sights after acquiring its largest domestic rival, Bookworld, from publishing house Penguin Random House.
The Bookworld acquisition will boost Booktopia's share of the domestic online book market from 62 per cent to more than 80 per cent and lift sales from $54 million in 2014 to an estimated $90 million by the end of 2015.
afr.com
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