A Fix Price in Germany: the Reason for the Development of Bookstores in Iran

1397/02/15-10:39

In a meeting titled ‘A Fixed Price for Books’ held in the Farhangvaran Hall of the TIBF, the manager of KNV said, “Following the implementation of the Fixed Price Law for Books, the German bookstores even in the small towns have been reinforced.”
In this meeting, held on May 4, 2018, Markus Fels, the manager of KNV (the second largest book distributor in Germany) pointed out to the importance of books and their cultural position in the society and added, “Books must be viewed as a live humane wealth” 
He continued, “Writing books and expansion of book reading culture will promote the society and prevents many abnormalities."
Fels also added, “Since distribution all over the country was in question, and both chain bookstores and single book stores were present in small towns or big cities with different levels of power, coming to an agreement based on the financial support of this guild was necessary.
The manager of KNV continued, “according to this agreement that later was approved by the Parliament as a law, a precise pricing system was defined for books that everybody was obliged to obey and nobody was allowed to have discount in the final price of the books.”
He emphasized that Germany have a long history in printing industry and many writers, publishers and bookstores are active in this industry. It has a very rigid basis because of the comprehensive, strong law that has created an appropriate, reliable atmosphere for working.  
Fels reminded, “In Germany, 70% of cultural products that are presented in the bookstores, including the music note sheets and geographical maps have a fixed price and price of the remaining 30% which include products such as calendars and audio books may change up to 15%. The rest of the books have fixed prices. The fixed price for books has made a boom in the small local bookstores in Germany.”
He added, “In Europe, in most of the leading countries like Germany, France, and Sweden, this law is obeyed. But, there are countries that do not believe in it. Britain, the USA and Switzerland are among such countries.”
“As any other law, the law of Fixed Prices for Books has its own exceptions and amendments. For instance, for pre-publishing purchasing, purchasing more than a predefined number of copies, complete purchase of serial books in advance, selling books to the school libraries, teachers, city libraries, science and research centers, 5 to 15% discounts can be considered. Or when time passes and a book does not sell well, a new price approved by the association may be announced.”
The he pointed out to the E-books and said, “Four or five percents of a bookstore income is through the electronic books. Their prices have to be 10-15% cheaper than the printed version. They have the disadvantage that competition between the bookstores is disappeared, though their advantages are more than their disadvantages.”
He stated, “The ubiquity of book reading in Germany is under consideration. In this regard, books are presented in different sizes and formats so that people with lower incomes can buy them. Even the libraries are granted subsidiaries so that the citizens can access useful contents at low costs.”
In the end, the manager of KNV added, “The situation of the modern world requires that internal space of a bookstore is changed so that the interested customers can comfortably page the books, drink a cup of coffee and besides reading a book buy other cultural products they need.”