book mark up at retail

[ac]

what is the average mark up that a high street retailer will put on a book?

[LeMarchand]

As books generally come with a cover price, the mark up is generally expressed as a percentage of the cover price. If the book is sold at cover price and is a "standard" item it will normally be 40 to 50% (eg. a �6.99 book will have been bought for around �3.50 to �4.20 from the publisher). This may seem excessive, but is fairly standard throughout retail, as the costs of staff, property and shrinkage are phenominally high. Also (since the fall of the NBA) many books are discounted and it is not always possible to arrange greater discounts from the publishers. Items like text books or small press publications (and many customer orders) will not always attract such great margins.

[Canib]

In the U.S. the markup is about 65% for hardback and 35% for paperbacks.