“Books have been generating about one third of our sales for several years now. Retailers abroad seek to diversify their business, too, partly because of the threat of online shopping sites, such as Amazon,” says Amalia Buliga, general manager of Diverta bookstore chain, which posted EUR10 million revenue last year.
Diverta gets most of its revenue from stationery and toys.
Some retailers, however, have stayed true to the traditional bookstore concept, where book sales generate up to 85% of the revenue.
“Our bookstore model is a traditional model. Books account for the bulk of our sales, about 80% to 85% in a regular month for the entire network,” says Valentin Derevlean, procurement manager of Librarium group, an entrepreneurial book retail business. Librarium first established a presence in university cities such as Timisoara, Cluj and Iasi and then opened bookstores in two malls in Bucharest.
One Distribution Company, the operator of the Librarium bookstore chain, is held by businessman Cornel Nicolae Moisoiu and posted EUR4.6 million revenue last year, according to Finance Ministry data.
“Bookstores in malls need to add accessories to the list of products they carry. When I say accessories, I mean either stationery, music, movies or various items that fit the gift description,” says Derevlean, who explains why the big difference between a street front bookstore and one that operates in a shopping center.
Carturesti, the largest bookstore chain in Romania by last year’s sales, gets 60% of its revenue from sales of books, which means it is no longer a traditional bookstore, considering books generated 75% of its revenue five years ago. The retailer posted EUR13 million revenue last year.
Carturesti opened the Carusel bookstore in Bucharest’s Old Town at the beginning of the year. Though this particular store, too, gets 60% of the revenue from books as the entire network, it also sells Romanian design products, reading accessories, tea and gourmet products, as well as music, movies, partyware, gift items and souvenirs.
“We’ve noticed a lot of interest from our customers in stationery, gaming and hobby products. That does not mean the interest in books is down, just that readers have become more open to trying new reading accessories or lifestyle products,” says Ana Niculescu, Carturesti PR manager.
Unlike Carturesti’s more sophisticated bookstore, Diverta prefers to focus on gadgets and personal development area at its latest store. The bookstore Diverta opened in Piata Romania in the center of Bucharest in May includes a space for events, which the company will sublet, as well as a coffee shop in the basement, with some space reserved for personal development games and entertainment.
“We started with stationery, then added books, media and IT. We are now more focused on personal development and entertainment,” Amalia Buliga says.
“Books and stationery generate 90% of the sales outside Bucharest. In Bucharest, gadgets are more popular, books generate less than 30%.”
Alexandria Librarii (Alexandria Bookstores) of the Sedcomlibris group of businessman Dan Alexandrescu says it chose to go with the bookstore concept whose main actors are readers, books and bookstore assistants. The network posted EUR2.5 million revenue from book sales in 2014, or 60% of the total revenue that stood at EUR3.6 million.
Books are not only available in bookstore chains, supermarkets and hypermarket chains sell them, too. Last year’s sales figures show consumers find the second option more convenient, as they bought more than 550,000 books from Diverta and more than 1.6 million from Carrefour, according to the data the French-held retailer supplied to ZF.
Alexandria Librarii is adamantly against this practice of buying books from supermarkets. “We are among the (increasingly) few who form part of a resistance against the supermarket culture, where culture is ‘weighed’ and sold cheaply by the kilo or by grams,” the company officials told ZF.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)