At its height, Australia’s largest online bookseller, Booktopia, had a A$2.4 million turnover, 5 million customers, and sold a book “every 3.9 seconds”. This week, it entered voluntary administration, a month after announcing the axing of 50 jobs and resignation of senior staff, including its chief executive. Shares had fallen to 4.5 cents, compared with about $3 a share in 2021.
But even at its peak, in the 2022 financial year, Booktopia was still unprofitable. What happened?
Co-founder of Booktopia, Tony Nash, who has said “I was never much of a reader”, defied the book industry’s expectations of a bookseller. Australian bookselling is a business of small profit margins, where workers are driven by their love of books.
