By Jaroslaw Adamowski
Czech publishing group Albatros Media is ramping up its investments in Czech-Slovak online book seller Restorio by reaching a 49 percent stake of the business. This comes as Restorio is expanding its market share by buying another online book seller, Trhknih, from its founder, local entrepreneur Petr Sobotka.
Eva Karasová, PR manager at Albatros Media
Eva Karasová, a PR manager at Albatros Media, told Publishing Perspectives that Albatros Media has decided to increase its share to 49 percent of Elibro, the company that operates online second-hand bookseller Restorio, and subsequently, Elibro bought Trhknih.cz, the largest online book marketplace in the Czech Republic. The value of the deals was not disclosed.
Restorio “offers book purchases at a guaranteed price and immediate payment. The customer therefore sells the book on Restorio and receives the selling price immediately. He does not wait for Restorio to find a new reader for the book. This is the difference and a big advantage compared to competing second-hand booksellers,” Karasová said.
“Trknih is the largest Czech online book marketplace, where readers place offers of books for purchase and sale. When another reader shows interest in the offered book, a direct transaction takes place between them, which Trhknih mediates.”
In her opinion, these two business models complement each other perfectly.
“Trhknih and Restorio will therefore continue to operate independently and provide services in the current way. Trhknih is a complementary service to Restorio, addressing a similar target group but offering slightly different services,” according to the PR manager. “For Elibro, Trhknih is a perfect complement to its model, and a number of synergistic effects can be found in the operation of both companies.”
Albatros Media is moving to increase its investments in industry players as it is fueled by a long period of continued market growth, according to Karasová.
“Albatros Media has been growing for 15 years in a row, and it has also managed to continuously increase sales of new books, and last year was no exception. It is true that the book market is generally stagnant, but there are growing trends, such as the growth of interest in e-books, audiobooks, and in foreign-language books, and the growing attractiveness of second-hand bookshops,” according to the company representative.
“It therefore seems logical to us that we should also focus on these segments. However, our key activity in the Czech Republic and Slovakia remains, of course, the publishing and sale of new books, and nothing has changed.”
At the same time, the Czech publishing group sees value in adapting a responsible and sustainable approach to business, “and in this case returning books to circulation is a key value of Albatros Media,” she said.
“The partnership we entered into with Elibro two years ago has proven to be a step in the right direction. Interest in books from the online second-hand bookshop Restorio is growing, so the company is doing well and fulfilling the expectations we placed on it,” Karasová said. “We generally see great development potential in the circular segment, and therefore we want to continue to strengthen our presence in it.”
Established in 1949, Albatros Media describes itself as the largest publishing group in the Czech market, and also continues to broaden its foothold in the Slovakian market. The group’s imprints include Albatros which is best known for children’s titles, CooBoo, which focuses on YA content, Plus, which specializes in literary work for adults, Motto, a commercial mix, as well as other fiction imprints along with nonfiction portfolios including Edika, BizBooks, CPress, Computer Press, and Management Press. The group estimates its sales capture 20 percent of the Czech market.
For more Publishing Perspectives coverage of the Czech market, click here.