A bookstore in central Seoul (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s offline bookstores, led by large bookstores, saw their 2021 sales rise year on year, data showed Thursday.
The nation’s offline bookstores recorded combined revenues of 1.39 trillion won (US$1.05 billion) last year, up 19.5 percent from a year ago, according to a report by local market research agency Metrix Corp.
The hike in their revenues is attributable to the eased impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Online bookstores also marked a slight increase in sales. Their 2021 sales amounted to 1.96 trillion won last year, up 3 percent year on year.
However, the number of employees employed by offline bookstores declined by 19.9 percent to 4,830, primarily due to small bookstore closures.
“During the survey process, there were many cases where phones were unanswered or bookstores were closed,” an official from the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea said.
In contrast, the number of employees employed by online bookstores jumped by 33.2 percent to 4,353.
Book publisher revenues stood at 3.79 trillion won last year, down 3.9 percent year on year, while wholesale and exclusive distribution revenues fell by 9 percent to 64.4 million won.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
