Consumers bought 557 million adult trade books in the first half of 2002, an increase of 1.6% over the same period in 2001, according to information released last week by Ipsos BookTrends. Ipsos estimated that consumers spent $5.3 billion on trade books in the period, a 3% increase over the first six months of 2001. The Ipsos survey, which compiles data from 12,000 households, found that spending on books picked up in the second quarter of the year, following a soft first period.
According to Ipsos's Barrie Rappaport, retailers that offer perceived value fared the best in the first half of the year. In particular, used bookstores and mass merchandisers increased their share of units purchased in the period; used bookstores' share rose from 3.1% to 5.0%, while mass merchandisers' share rose from 4.7% to 5.9%. Online booksellers also increased their share of unit purchases, accounting for 8.4% of book purchases in the first half of 2002, compared to 7.4% in 2001. Rappaport speculated that online booksellers were able to increase their market share through a combination of free shipping offers and used book sales. Ipsos began tracking sales of used books in April and found that used books accounted for nearly 15% of trade books bought in the period. In addition to used bookstores, consumers were most likely to buy used books from an online retailer or independent bookstore.
Independent bookstores did well in general in the first half of 2002, the survey found, with their market share rising from 13.5% to 14.4%. Market share of chain bookstores, meanwhile, fell from 22.2% to 21.4%. Other market channels that lost share in the first half of the year were book clubs, down to 19.6% from 22.1%, and mail order, down from 3.3% to 2.8%.
