Royal Mail has announced that it has secured a three-year contract to handle the delivery of all online purchases made with bookselling giant Waterstones. 

The parcel carrier's Tracked 24, Tracked 48 and International services will be used to handle all purchases made through the Waterstones website. 

Waterstones is the only national specialist bookseller chain in the UK and has successfully launched an online presence that gives its customers access to its entire catalogue of titles. 

Concerns over the decline of physical books seem to be fading, as sales are once again on the rise, growing three per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2015, compared with two per cent growth for ebooks. 

Head of stock operations at Waterstones Erwyn Rentzenbrink said: "From today all orders from Waterstones.com will be delivered by Royal Mail… Royal Mail are a perfect fit for us, offering a reliable, professional and efficient service putting our customers first."