COVID-19 impact on bookstores sales in Italy in 2020

The measures applied in Italy to contain the spread of COVID-19 took a massive economic toll from bookstores on the territory. This is what emerges from an analysis published by AIE (Italian Publishers Association), which compared sales in the COVID-emergency weeks with sales in the same period in 2019. Starting from halfway into Week 11, i.e. March, 12th, bookstores were closed by law and they were allowed to reopen only on April, 14th, i.e. on Week 15. The data revealed how the uncertainty surrounding the health situation in the country affected bookstores sales already in Week 10, when no restrictions where enforced, but sales decreased already by 15 percent. The lowest point was reached on Week 12 when sales were close to zero, resulting from a 95 percent decrease from the same week in 2019. Overall, Italian bookstores in the sample under consideration reported an 85 percent decrease in sales percentage over the weeks 11-15 compared to the previous year.