Printed books are the most frequently sold online and worldwide – paper books clearly dominate online book sales in Europe and even in the USA, where the digital format is very popular.
Europe lags behind the USA in buying e-books and audiobooks
According to data from Statista’s Advertising & Media Outlook, worldwide usage of electronic books (or e-books) is still well below that of printed books. Even in the USA, where the digital format is very popular, an estimated 23% of the population bought an e-book last year, compared with 45% for a paper book. In Europe, the e-book is still struggling to convince: an estimated 8% of the EU population will buy an e-book in 2021, compared with 51% for the traditional book.
Although the share of people who buy digital e-books and audiobooks via the Internet is not high compared to the US, sales of these media are on the rise in Europe. In 2021, the share of people who purchased at least one e-book or audiobook in digital form increased by 2.5 compared to 2019.
These results suggest that screens and the Internet are not about to bury printed books, which are still very popular with readers. Digital books should be seen more as a complementary product, as the two formats respond to different reading practices and contexts.
Who e-reads the most in Europe?
The highest proportion of people who purchased e-books or audiobooks in digital form was in the Scandinavian countries of Denmark and Sweden, at around 18%. Although Finns are among the most active readers in Europe, they are still lagging behind the Scandinavian average in downloading e-books and audiobooks for a fee.
Apart from an unwillingness to purchase e-books for a fee, there is also an increasing demand for digital discounts on e-books and audiobooks in Finland. Data from promo-codes.fi shows that consumers are actively looking for sales and discounts on this kind of product. For example, demand for discounts on e-books Adlibris alennuskoodi between the years 2020 and 2023 increased up to 43%. Among other discounts searched online by Finns belongs Bookbeat koodi on audiobooks.
Apart from Scandinavia, the highest proportions of e-readers were in:
- Luxembourg (82%)
- Germany (75%)
- and Austria (73%)
In contrast, the lowest share (around 1%) was in the Balkan countries Romania and Bulgaria.
Printed books are the most frequently sold online
Print books clearly dominate online book sales in Europe. Of the EU population who bought books online, 86% of people bought at least one printed book. People were more likely to buy e-books or audiobooks downloadable from the web (18%) than audiobooks on physical media (10%). Of the population aged 16 and over, 13% bought at least one printed book, e-book or audiobook online, with women (15%) more likely to use online book sales than men (11%).
The age structure of people downloading e-books and audiobooks from the web for a fee differs slightly from the age structure of those buying physical audiobooks. For the former group, there is a downward trend in the proportion of purchasers as age increases, with 16-24-year-olds accounting for the largest proportion of total purchasers (31%). People aged 35-44 were the most likely to order audiobooks on physical media (35%). The proportion of men who purchased e-books and audiobooks (either digitally or on physical media) was higher than the proportion of women.
