Poles will spend PLN 500 mln on books this holiday season

Although Poles are reading less, they will spend PLN 500 million on books during the holiday season, according to Rzeczpospolita. Books are the gift of choice in Europe, accounting for 41 percent of all purchased presents, as measured by Deloitte. A sector analysis further showed that more and more e-books are being sold, although they are still far behind traditional book sales. The E-book market makes up 3 percent of the book market and was valued at PLN 83 million in 2013. Empik's Virtualo said that the e-book market is worth slightly less, PLN 40 million. Bookstores are claiming two or three-fold sale increases in the month of December. With readership figures and print volumes decreasing, experts are wondering if the increase in book sales is purely a quantity over quality trend.