Adult Book Purchases Up Two Percent in 2002

September 10, 2003

This is the first of four articles looking at the results of the recently released 2002 Consumer Research Study on Book Purchasing, conducted by Ipsos BookTrends and published by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG). This week's focus is the adult book market.

The study found that adult trade is the largest market, with adult books accounting for 70 percent of the units sold and 83 percent of the dollars. Moreover, adult book purchases rose in 2002 by 2 percent in units and 1 percent in dollars compared to 2001. The study noted the importance of consumer motivation -- 50 percent of adult trade book purchases were impulse buys. For the past several years, there has been a steady trend toward impulsive book purchases in the three market segments tracked by CBPS, adult trade (18-plus years old), teens (age 14 - 17), and children (under 14 years old).

As was previously reported by BTW when a preview of the study appeared in the April/May issue of the Ipsos Ideas' newsletter, the study found that in 2002 independent and small chain bookstores increased market share to 15.5 percent from 15 percent the prior year. The study also noted that larger chain bookstores lost market share, primarily due to store and business closings. All told, the market share growth rate of used-book stores outpaced all other market categories with a 50 percent increase to 5 percent, warehouse/price clubs and mass merchandisers have a combined 12.7 percent market share, and the Internet has reached 8.1 percent.

Popular fiction continues to drive the adult trade book market, making gains for the past five years. Conversely, categories that lost market share in 2002 include nonfiction religious, cooking/crafts, technical/science/education, art/literature/poetry, and travel/regional. Nonetheless, nonfiction religious and cooking/crafts are still the second and third largest categories, respectively, after popular fiction. Also, mass market increased to 35.2 percent of market share, while trade paper and hardcover had small declines to 33.5 percent and 31.3 percent, respectively.

The average book buyer of adult books continues to grow older. In 2002, consumers 55 years old and older purchased 40 percent of adult books, the study found, and consumers 50 years old and older now account for 53 percent of books purchased. As to household income levels, a third of the books were purchased by household incomes over $75,000 while 52 percent of books were purchased by households with income levels of $50,000-plus. In terms of education, 17 percent of purchases were made by heads of households with graduate studies and another 21 percent with college degrees.

Furthermore, residents of the Pacific and Mountain Census regions continue to be the heaviest buyers of adult books, while households in the Northeastern sector appear to have reduced their book purchasing expenditures. The top four Census regions by population size account for two-thirds of all adult book purchases with the Pacific region at 18 percent, the South Atlantic and East North Central regions both at 17 percent, and the Mid-Atlantic at 14 percent. Adult book purchases are just about even across all four calendar quarters.

For the past nine years, the Book Industry Study Group, along with core supporters such as ABA, has been the sponsor of the major consumer study on book purchasing habits. The research is based on consumer panel reports prepared by Ipsos-Insight, one of the world's largest market research organizations. In the coming weeks, BTW will be reporting on the study's findings regarding children's-book purchases and the used-book market.

Topics: Industry Statistics, News - Bookselling,