Independent Booksellers Invited to Participate in BEA Research Project

As part of the educational programming at this year's BookExpo America, the Kanbay Research Institute (KRI) will present the results of an independent research study of today's Book Shopper. The project seeks to explain what customers think and feel throughout the shopping experience, and the actions leading booksellers take to meet and beat consumer expectations.

To ensure the independent bookseller community is adequately represented, KRI is inviting ABA members to participate in the study. Any store that responds as willing to participate will receive complimentary access to KRI's online research service, which the company values at $165. Each store randomly selected by KRI for inclusion in the study will receive a free custom report.

A total of 10 to 20 independent booksellers will be randomly selected across geographic regions for inclusion in the study. Data collected for these stores will then be combined to create a composite profile of bookstore customers.

KRI's research seeks to discover what constitutes an ideal shopping experience and what factors impact decision-making. It looks at the trade-offs consumers make across a series of attributes, and identifies strategies to help businesses compete more effectively.

ABA members who would like to register or inquire further about the project can do so via the web at www.kanbayresearch.com/bea_form.php. Selected stores will be contacted by KRI and asked to send a survey link via e-mail to their customers. The online survey itself takes five to 10 minutes to complete.

Stores chosen by KRI to distribute the survey to customers will receive a free custom report with survey results pertaining to their store. The report will graphically display consumer desire levels across the book-buying experience, and how well the bookstore delivers to those desires. KRI will also provide first-hand comments made by customers during the survey, and identify which shopper type is most common in the store.

KRI is an independent, primary research firm that collects data and analyzes more than 300 market leading companies across six U.S. economic sectors. Each year, it conducts industry-level studies in Retail, Media, Restaurant & Beverage, Travel, Communications and Financial Services. Past KRI studies have been presented during keynote addresses at the National Retail Federation Annual Convention & Expo, as well as other prominent trade shows and events such as BookExpo America. For more information, go to www.kanbayresearch.com.