Ipsos Begins Tracking Used Book Market

This is the final in a series 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 used book market.

In April 2002, Ipsos began to track more consumer data on the purchases of used books. Though the study notes that this is data is insufficient to establish any specific trends, it does provide some insight into what may be future consumer patterns.

The typical used book buyer is very similar to a new book buyer, the study reported, although a larger number of lower-income consumers purchase used books. The dominant age of a used-book buyer is also the same as a new book buyer: 40- to 60-plus years. The price of a used book is about 50 to 60 percent less than a new book.

Overall, used bookstores captured a 5 percent market share in 2002, which is almost double from the previous year. Consumers purchased 110 million book units and spent nearly $400 million in 2002. This is 13 percent of all book units and 5 percent of consumer dollars. Heavy book purchasers have a higher propensity to buy used books than light book buyers do. In fact, 15 percent of all heavy book buyer purchases are used books. Leisure reading (fiction) is the most popular used book followed by mystery, romance, and science fiction.

There appears to be four key retail channels for used books: used bookstores, independent bookstores, the Internet, and "charity" sales events, the study found. Also, approximately two-thirds of used book purchases are impulse buys.

To read the report on the children's market, click here. For a breakdown of the adult market, click here; for the teen market, click here.