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.

意大利为遏制COVID-19的传播所采取的措施，对领土内的书店造成了巨大的经济损失。这一结论源于意大利出版商协会（AIE）发布的一项分析报告，该报告对比了疫情期间紧急状态周的销售情况与2019年同期销售情况。自第11周中期，即3月12日起，书店根据法律规定被强制关闭，直至4月14日，即第15周，才被允许重新开业。数据揭示了国家公共卫生状况的不确定性如何从第10周开始就已影响书店的销售，当时尚未实施任何限制措施，但销售额已下降了15%。第12周销售额降至接近零，较2019年同期下降了95%。总体而言，所考虑的意大利书店样本在11-15周内的销售额同比下降了85%，与上一年同期相比。