US publishers lose export sales over Amazon policy change

In the US, several publishers have told Publishers Weekly (PW) that a change in Amazon’s sourcing policy has raised costs and led to lost sales in European markets.

Until recently, Amazon imported book from various US publishers and distributors to its European and UK warehouses, to fulfil orders coming from Amazon’s international marketplaces. Amazon is now requiring US publishers to make their books available closer to the point of sale in Europe.

Amazon said the change was made to meet its sustainability goals. A spokesperson told PW the company had told publishers 18 months ago the change was taking place. ‘We began notifying publishers over a year and a half ago that beginning this spring we would no longer be ordering books from the US to ship to the UK and EU to fulfill sales,’ Amazon’s Lindsay Hamilton said. ‘We asked publishers to look into locally sourced options and provided a number of solutions for publishers to choose from including local printing, print on demand, and alternative shipping.’

Publishers who spoke to PW said these options will raise costs and make it harder to keep popular books in stock, noting that POD printers can only print trade paperbacks, meaning a lower cover price and higher-per-unit cost. Short run printing in the UK and Europe would also require new processes and local inventory-holding, which would also raise costs.

The publishers also said Amazon Europe is increasing its sourcing from UK publishers, and relying much more heavily on third-party marketplace sellers to fill orders, contributing to fewer sales for US publishers.

The publishers PW spoke to estimated that sales on books previously imported to Europe via Amazon had fallen by as much as 50% for some houses.

Category: International news