[LINK] "Post-Christmas boom in e-books expected to fade"

[rfmcdonald]

The Globe and Mail's Shane Dingman reports on an interesting trend in e-books.

When it comes to the business of books – a staple of under-the-tree gifting – there are actually two Christmas stories.

The first – for physical books – ramps up throughout December and ends by Dec. 25. In Canada, a typical week sees about 700,000 books sold. But, in the weeks before Christmas, that number jumps to two or three million, according to sales tracking data from BookNet Canada.

The second story – for e-books – begins Christmas Day in the hours after new e-readers are unwrapped.

“The most wonderfully insane time of year is from about 3 p.m. on the 25th, extending into January and February,” says Michael Tamblyn, who in November was named CEO of Kobo, the Canadian-founded maker of e-readers and seller of e-books. Kobo was sold to Japanese retailer Rakuten in 2013, but Mr. Tamblyn – a long-time employee – stayed through the transition, most recently as second in command to former CEO Takahito Aiki.

From the start, e-books have bucked the retail trend. Mr. Tamblyn recalls Kobo’s first big white-knuckle Christmas in 2009: “We came out of November and into December expecting to see that ramp, and it didn’t come ,” he says, able to laugh now at how the fledgling company contemplated doom. “And then on Dec. 25, people unwrapped their device, plugged it in for three hours to charge, and then the avalanche hit.”

But, this year, there were reasons for concern leading up to Mr. Tamblyn’s first Christmas at Kobo’s helm. First, e-book sales have been flat for the past 18 months to two years, according to Noah Genner, CEO of BookNet Canada, which tracks about 85 per cent of Canada’s book sales. Mr. Genner pegs e-book sales at about 17 per cent or 18 per cent of Canada’s book market. Second, the post-Christmas boost is under threat.