The consulting firm Insight View details that the sector has managed to maintain its solvency, despite the progressive adjustment of the profit margin
The Region of Murcia has 3% of the bookstores in all of Spain, the sixth highest percentage in Spain by province. A position that it shares with Malaga, Seville, A Coruña and the Balearic Islands, as reflected in the report prepared by the Insight View consultancy.
14% of bookstores are at high or maximum levels of default risk, compared to 74% that have low or minimum values, according to this report prepared the day before the start of the Madrid Book Fair. The Iberinform firm, which collects this data, points out that since 2013 bookstores have suffered “a deterioration in their economic profitability ratios”, which registered minimum values in the historical series in 2020.
However, despite this progressive adjustment of margins, the sector has managed to sustain other “important” ratios, such as solvency, cash, liquidity and availability.
The worst financial behavior is registered among the bookstores founded in the last decade. The risk of default rises to 19% of bookstores in this segment. In contrast, among consolidated bookstores with more than 25 years of existence, this ratio drops to 11%.
“The aggregate analysis of the official accounts presented by the bookstores shows the reality of a sector capable of showing profound resilience in the face of the profound changes in its operations that the 21st century has brought,” they point out from Iberinform.
After resisting the substitution of the product -the electronic book has not replaced the paper book in reading habits-, bookstores face the challenge of new forms of purchase and distribution. «In this context, many build their added value by evolving in search of specific market niches: we are going towards a greater number of bookstores, but each time smaller and more specialized. This explains the distribution by business sizes », he explains.
Thus, the presence of large and medium-sized companies is “testimonial” in this sector, where there has been an atomization: 88% are micro-enterprises, a percentage that rises to 99% if small ones are also added.
According to the data offered by Insight View, Madrid (19%) and Barcelona (12%) are the provinces with the most bookstores, followed by Valencia (5%), Vizcaya (4%), Alicante (4%), Region of Murcia (3%), Malaga (3%), Seville (3%), A Coruña (3%) and the Balearic Islands (3%).
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