The market research firm Ipsos' report on children's book buying trends for 2002 found units falling 2%, to approximately 460 million books sold, while consumer spending on children's titles was roughly flat with 2001. The figures are relatively close to the Association of American Publishers' data that showed publishers' sales of children's books rising 1% in 2002.
The Ipsos survey of 16,000 households found that after a slight gain in unit sales in the first half of 2002, children's book purchases were sluggish in the fourth quarter, with the number of units bought the lowest in six years. A shrinking customer base was cited as the main reason for the weak results. The number of households buying children's books fell from 36.5% in 2001 to 34.5% in 2002. Part of the reason for decline in the number of book-buying households was a decline in the number of children aged six to 13. It was that age bracket where the largest cutback in buying was seen.
In terms of sales by channel, there were only minor shifts over the last several years. Book clubs and book fairs share fell from 29% to 28% in 2002, while bookstore market share rose to 17% from 16%. Dollar stores also picked up market share. Internet sales remained at 1%.
