Result of book publishers and bookstores is typically made during the last quarter. In Finland the few weeks before Christmas are the best of the year. In SanomaWSOY, both Rautakirja's bookstore business Suomalainen Kirjakauppa and WSOY are familiar with the busy Christmas season.
- Book sales in Finland have traditionally had their peak between Fathers Day (the second Sunday in November) and Christmas. Some 35% of books are sold during these six-seven weeks and the percentage is even greater for Finnish fiction. Correspondingly, a substantial part of books on nature or gardening is sold during spring, Mika Hänninen, Marketing Manager of WSOY's General literature, explains.
- In Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, our main seasons, in addition to Christmas, are the sales in February, the beginning of school year in August and the sales in October. About 20% of all retail sales are accumulated in two weeks before Christmas, Arto Lahdenperä, Vice President of Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, estimates.
Christmas all year round
Christmas influences operations in bookstores and publishing all year around: preparations for the next Christmas begin as soon as the previous one is over. - First purchases for next Christmas are done in January, Lahdenperä says.
Bookstores start buying books for next autumn and Christmas in March - April. - Of course we have last years figures as basis when we estimate the sales of particular books, but we also have to trust publishing houses editors' expertise in evaluating the future sales of their new publications, Lahdenperä sums up.
In WSOY, the decisions about which books will be published and when are made in the each department of General Literature. - Editors are professionals with huge experience in these issues, so the marketing department is only left with the job of transmitting the requests and sales figures of bookstores, Hänninen describes.