“At present, we’re talking about a EUR100 million book market as we’ve reverted to the pre-crisis level. The online segment holds around 20-25% of the market and is rising,” stated Benga.
During the crisis period (starting 2009), the book market slid by around 40% and has gradually returned to growth since late 2010. However, the weight of online book sales is difficult to estimate as beside major e-commerce players, publishers also sell their books online independently, explained Benga.
“Book demand is following an upward trend from various reasons, also related to the development of the economy and society,” said Okian CEO.
In 2014, okian.ro sold around 40,000 books, mainly English language ones, with total revenue reaching RON1.3 million. The largest part of revenue, around 60%, comes from sales of English language books of various types.
In 2015, Okian will add a new product category, called “gifts and design”, promoting Romanian designers’ creations. Also, Okian’s plans for 2015 include the re-launch of the online platform so that it gets optimized for mobile devices as well, as well as the introduction of German language books.
At present, okian.ro also has a selection of Hungarian language books and books in other foreign languages such as French, Spanish or Italian are also brought on client demand.
The best selling specialized books are business ones.
The average value of an order on okian.ro stood at RON130 in 2014, 30% up from 2013 and the upward trend will maintain this year as well.
For 2015, okian.ro plans to boost revenue by 50%. At product level, growth largely comes from the foreign book segment.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)