Looking At Who Buys What Where

Teenagers largely bought their books at the national bookstore chains in 2007, while their grandparents shopped for books from a variety of outlets. That was one of the findings drawn from PubTrack Consumer, the R.R. Bowker service that uses a national online survey to track various aspects of consumer book-buying behavior and patterns.

According to the data, the three major chains accounted for 46.3% of all units bought by teens in 2007, while readers 60 and older divided their purchases among chain stores (16.9%), the Internet (14.2%) and book clubs (13.5%).

Readers between 18 and 28 (Generation Y) showed the most different characteristics among the five groups measured. Generation Y was the only group where the Internet was the top source of book purchases, and they were the most comfortable buying nonprint products—digital downloads of audiobooks, e-books and other nonprint items accounted for 4% of purchases. The group also spent the least amount of dollars on fiction, spreading their purchases among an array of nonfiction areas. For readers over 60, fiction accounted for more than half of the books they purchased in 2007, with the mystery/detective category the most popular, accounting for 23.4% of book purchases.

For the most part, consumers purchase a book because it falls into an area they're interested in. The leading reason cited for buying a book is the catch-all area of “adding to a collection.” Other reasons are closely related, such as buying a book because of the author, topic or main character. Price was a factor primarily for seniors and Gen Y groups. Such factors as cover art, author readings, and book reviews were well down the list.

Less than 1% of book buyers said they toss a book after they're done reading it. While most readers said they keep their books, the older readers are, the more likely they are to give away a book. The Gen Y age group is the most aggressive in selling their books.