With Print Book Sales Stabilized, Return Rate Lowers

Before the sales of ebooks exploded in 2010 and 2011, lowering the rate of book returns was one of the major issues that publishers, distributors, and booksellers grappled with on a regular basis. But as the surge in e-book sales called into question the future of print books, the topic of returns was put on the back burner for most companies. Now that sales of print trade books have stabilized, we checked in with companies in different parts of the supply chain to find out about the recent trends in returns.

For the most part, the executives said that returns have gone down in the era of digital books. Industry consolidation and improved technology that has increased the efficiency in the supply were cited as the two major reasons for the reduced return rate. Statistics compiled by the Association of American Publishers in its monthly StatShot program showed that returns fell in each of the major three print formats—hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market paperback—in 2015 compared to 2014. The trade paperback return rate from reporting publishers was the lowest, around 20%, while hardcover returns were 26% and the mass market return rate was 48%.