The Adoc denounces a 5% increase compared to 2024. The Antitrust Authority investigates an 800 million market between the increases, few publishing houses and obstacles to used texts
The usual stile of September arrives inexorable: textbooks for the increased school. This year it will come to spend up to over 700 euros per child, i.e. 5% higher than the maximums touched the last school year (Adoc consumer association estimates). The Italian Editori Association speaks of an increase in prices aligned with inflation (1.7% for averages and 1.8% for superiors). The fact is that families must pay more and more every September. The Antitrust Authority investigates and reports: few publishers, many new editions, obstacles to the circulation of used books and discounts blocked at 15%. And the cost of the system falls on the pockets of the students’ parents.
Textbooks: the average expenditure touches 700 euros per child, according to the Adoc
According to the Adoc, for the first year of middle school students, the average spending for school texts only is 355.23 euros, to which are added 132.30 euros for the school kit (case, backpacks, notebooks, diary, etc.), for a total of 487.53 euros. For high school students, however, the average expenditure reaches 552.69 euros for books and 685 euros in total with basic school material. The picture is further complicated when you enter high schools where the dictionaries of Latin and Greek and languages are needed. The cost is between 75 and 133 euros each. In total, within the entire school cycle, not counting taxes, transport and trips, a family can spend over 2,500 euros per child only for mandatory books. Consumer associations ask the government of interventions such as the possibility for families to deduct school books in the tax return, as a stable measure against the dear school. The state has allocated 136 million euros this year to guarantee free or discounted texts for low-income families, up 3% compared to 2024-2025. On the side of the booksellers, the Sil and the Italian Editori Association speak of increases of 1.7% to averages and 1.8% in high school, in line with inflation. To weigh more, they point out, it is the school set, where there are no spending roofs.
Few publishers, many new editions: the Antitrust Authority investigates the school market that is worth 800 million euros
The dynamics of prices is not only the conjuncture result. This is what the guarantor of the competition and the market claims, which for months has been working on a cognitive investigation to shed light on the functioning of the school publishing sector. The preliminary conclusions of the Antitrustust are clear. First of all, the market is strongly concentrated: four publishers control 80% of sales. To contend for the bulk of the cake are Mondadori (32%), Zanichelli (25%), Sanoma (13.5%) and the school (8%). Only a new operator, Feltrinelli School, has entered the market over the past five years. Then there is the question of the “new editions”. Every year the last comes and this quickly makes the used texts old, often with minimal changes, justified by regulatory updates or by graphic variations. The authority underlines how the definition of “new edition” itself is left to the editorial self -regulation, which requires a variation of 20% in the contents, but without external controls. Then there is the digital theme. Almost all classes (95%) adopts paper books integrated by e-books, but the licenses of use for online versions are personal and non-transferable, thus preventing the resale of volumes. And finally the constraints weigh to the discounts: by law they cannot be greater than 15% for new books. A brake on competition and a potential drop in prices. Not surprisingly, the second -hand market, although difficult to quantify, is just 150 million euros, against an overall turnover that in 2024 touched 800 million, with a growth of 13% compared to 2014, although in the same period the school population reduced by 7%, that is, almost 600 thousand students less.
The Antitrust Survey, which arrived at the final phase, now moves on to the counter -deductions of the publishers, who will have to send their observations by September. Only then will the authority decide whether to intervene with corrective measures or sanctions.
