Sales of Print Books End January on High Note (publishersweekly.com)

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released the StatShot Annual report covering the calendar year 2022, estimating that the U.S. book publishing industry generated $28.10 billion industry-wide during the year, a decline of 2.6% as compared to 2021. In spite of the slight decline, total industry revenue remained 8.6% higher than the $25.87 billion total recorded for the year of 2019, just prior to the onset of the pandemic. “During the year the publishing industry continued to show considerable resilience, with total revenues still above pre-pandemic levels,” commented Syreeta Swann, Chief Operating Officer, Association of American Publishers. “The fact that the five-year trend also shows consistent growth suggests that the industry is well positioned to weather a challenging economic environment and an evolving marketplace over the long haul.”

Total Company net sales for the three months ended April 30, 2024 increased 7.8% to a record $1.20 billion. Total Retail segment net sales increased 5.8%, with comparable Retail segment net sales increasing 4.6%. Comparable Retail segment net sales increased 17.1% at Free People and 10.4% at Anthropologie and decreased 13.7% at Urban Outfitters. Wholesale segment net sales increased 3.4% driven by a 6.3% increase in Free People wholesale sales due to an increase in sales to department stores and specialty customers, partially offset by a decrease in Urban Outfitters wholesale sales. Nuuly segment net sales increased by 51.4% primarily driven by a 45% increase in average active subscribers in the current quarter versus the prior year quarter.

A new survey commissioned by Stora Enso on post-pandemic work and printing habits polled 3,400 workplace consumers across Sweden, UK, France, Netherlands, and Germany, on how they feel about printing and what they want from their office paper. The survey delivered some surprising insights, and some not so surprising. During 2020 and early 2021, the pandemic-driven shift to stay-at-home work naturally brought a dip in demand for office paper, with people on average printing 32 per cent more at the office than at home. Now with the economic recovery – 35 per cent of respondents having already returned to their office and a further 51 per cent expecting to return soon – the good news for the industry is that back to the office will also mean back to print. Stora Enso’s Jonathan Bakewell, VP, Head of Segment Office and Book Papers, says: “This increase in printer paper demand, marked by a return to the office, has been hoped for, but these results reaffirm it.”