How Rapidly is the eBook Market Growing? eBook Sales Soar While Prices Expected to Drop
We reported more than a year ago that eBook sales had overtaken those of audiobooks for the first time. According to GfK, eBooks had the fastest growth across the entire download market. In the first half of 2012, downloads generated approximately 392 million euros, making up about 10 percent of the entire entertainment market (music, games, software, films, and books). Around 11 percent or about 44 million euros of this revenue came from eBooks.
Are eBooks still the strongest growth factor?
There was further growth in the first half of 2013. According to the latest GfK analysis, the download market has grown to 401 million euros. This represents an increase of 66 million euros compared to the same period the previous year. Attentive readers will have noticed that the growth of 66 million euros doesn’t quite match the sales figures from last year.
The other GfK figures are also contradictory. The eBook market is said to now account for 22 percent of the download market revenues. This would correspond to a revenue volume of 88 million euros. However, GfK actually reports only an amount of 74 million euros. That would be about 18 percent of the total sales of 401 million euros mentioned.
At least the stated 74 million euros fit with the reported growth of around 68 percent compared to last year’s numbers. But since all the figures are quite contradictory, one should take them with caution. It remains unclear how much the download market has actually grown and what the shares of the individual sectors (including eBooks) are.
A request for clarification has already been made to GfK, which will hopefully resolve the issue.
UPDATE: GfK has since responded and clarified the numbers. The current sales figures were given without software downloads, meaning that compared to last year’s figures without software downloads, the increase is indeed 66 million euros.
As for eBook sales, the increase in revenue is, as suspected, 18 percent. The previously stated 22 percent also included audiobooks. Here, eBooks and audiobooks were combined as “digital books” – hence the discrepancy.
In conclusion, it can be stated: The digital market has grown by 66 million euros, with eBook sales showing the strongest growth at 30 million euros or 68 percent, reaching 74 million euros.
eBook prices should be 40 percent lower than paper book prices
The survey results from GfK, which are created based on continuous surveys of 20,000 consumers in Germany, are hopefully more reliable.
Consumers were asked about their price acceptance for eBooks. The optimal price is, therefore, 40 percent below the prices of traditional books. GfK understands the optimal price as the price at which the number of respondents who rate the product as “too cheap” is equal to the number of people who consider the product “too expensive.” This is where the sale of eBooks should be highest, and the greatest market penetration possible.
It’s no real surprise that consumers find eBook prices too high. Here on our homepage and in the forum, the voices seem to prevail that wish for lower eBook prices. The two main arguments for the demanded price drop are the licensing system on one hand, and the lower distribution costs of eBooks on the other.
eBooks are generally sold only as a license, meaning the buyer only has limited usage rights to the file, does not own it, and thus cannot freely dispose of it. Unlike printed books, eBooks cannot be lent or resold.
Currently, eBook prices fluctuate greatly. Some eBooks are significantly cheaper than their paper counterparts, while others cost the same. Nevertheless, there is a trend, as the average prices of eBooks are declining. In 2011, the average eBook price in Germany was 9.56 euros, and in 2012, the average price fell to 8.61 euros.
