Bernard Ginns: Support your local bookseller and defy might of Amazon

His government’s economic battle against Amazon and Google has been billed by commentators as a clash between comfortable Gallic tradition and disruptive modernity.

Last Thursday, the French Senate backed legislation that would ban Amazon from offering free shipping on books in France.

The bill, which has been supported by the Ministry of Culture, is intended to support the existence of the country’s 3,500 bookstores, of which 800 are independent. The same day the French national agency for data protection found Google to be in breach of national privacy laws and ordered it to pay a 150,000 euro fine.

According to Reuters, 17 per cent of books in France are now sold online, compared with about just 3 per cent in 2005.

Four out of every five of those online sales goes through Amazon, illustrating the might of the “Everything Store”.

Such a market intervention would be unthinkable in Britain, but is less surprising in France and its famously entrenched attitude towards change and powerful trade groups.

I wonder if UK booksellers might appreciate some stronger support from ministers on this side of the Channel.

A spokesman for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills said: “We believe that the consumers are best served by the operation of open competition between companies. We have no plans to consider similar steps to the French government.”

In Britain, an estimated 400 independent bookstores closed between 2006 and 2011.

The Booksellers Association, which represents more than 95 per cent of the trade, has 48 Yorkshire-based independent bookshops in its current membership. This is compared to 53 in 2011.

Sydney Davies, head of trade and industry, told me that it is difficult to compare the situation in France with the UK.

He said: “The current legislations in the UK mean that any discount can be applied to a book’s recommended retail price since the demise of the Net Book Agreement, and Amazon has just announced that it will stop free super saver delivery on book orders less than £10 in the UK.

“We are more concerned about unfair competition for booksellers in the UK, such as the unfair tax arrangements of multinationals and the e-book VAT discrepancy between EU states.”

So too are many consumers, judging by The Bookseller’s annual Christmas trading survey, which found that 77 per cent of the 47 retail respondents are now seeing a backlash towards Amazon among customers.

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner and founder, is a man who believes in the power of reputation. He should be concerned.

The Bookseller said a strong autumn publishing list led most independent booksellers to see an increase in sales over the festive period.

But it found that others were hit by heavy rain and storms, which discouraged shoppers from venturing outside.

The title added that many independents are optimistic about the year ahead and expect a slowdown in e-book and e-reader sales and a resurgence in independent shopping.

In my household, I have called a halt to all spending on Amazon. It might offer cheaper prices, but I am aware of the costs elsewhere.

By supporting local bookstores, which might be slightly more expensive, I feel that I am investing in my local community.

By supporting Amazon, I feel that I am investing in nothing but algorithms and vast warehouses filled with rows and rows and rows of random products and staffed by closely monitored agency workers.

It is one vision of the future that I am using my spending power (and this Yorkshire Post column) to avoid.

n WELL done to reader Steve Robinson, of Otley in West Yorkshire, who spotted the typographical error in last week’s column.

I mistakenly reported that the UK national debt would reach £11.64 trillion by 2017-2018, when I should have stated that it will be ‘just’ £1.64 trillion.