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[Indonesia] Analog Book Sales on the Rise / Interest in Reading Increases through SNS

  • Release date: Aug 12, 2019
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Book sales up 12.36% Foreign bestsellers, blogger books and short stories are popular

Indonesia’s major bookstore chain Gramedia announced that sales of physical (analog) books increased by 12.36% in 2018. This rise in physical book sales has been observed across various parts of Indonesia. In particular, imported editions of overseas bestsellers (foreign-language books) are especially popular. However, because book prices remain relatively high, the readership appears to be concentrated among the urban middle class and above.

Domestic bestsellers in 2018 were dominated by books written by popular bloggers, as well as short story collections and speech compilations. Notably, novels by Pramoedya Ananta Toer—an Indonesian author whose works were once banned due to his influence—also ranked among the bestsellers, which is particularly interesting.

Many bookstores have installed devices that allow customers to search for and order books online if they are not available in-store, and this fusion of analog and digital is playing a role in driving sales growth.

Increase in the number of people quoting their favorite passages from books on social networking sites, which in turn increases the interest in reading.

In the past, the habit of reading was not so deeply rooted that it was said that "Indonesians do not read" and "books do not sell in Indonesia. In response to this, educational institutions have started to improve their libraries and appeal to students about the usefulness of reading, but it is believed that it is the social networking effect that has directly led to the rise in book sales. The number of young people and celebrities who post excerpts of their favorite texts on Instagram and Whatsapps is increasing, and it is thought that interest in reading itself is on the rise.

This article is co-authored by TNC Lifestyle Researcher (http://lifestyle.tenace.co.jp/) and Intage's Global Researcher.

Translated by DeepL, AI Translator

  • TNCアジアトレンドラボ

    Author profile
    TNC ASIA Trend Lab

    TNC ASIA Trend Lab is an information organization run by TNC Inc. that researches and shares trends in Asia. It supports corporate marketing activities by finding insights from trends rooted in the lifestyles and habits of local consumers. http://lifestyle.tenace.co.jp/

  • Intage Inc

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    Intage Inc.

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