Background

Methodology

Subscriber Benefits

Reports

Genres-Adults

Genres-Children

Books & Consumers...

BACKGROUND

Books and Consumers is the key monitor of consumer book purchasing in Great Britain.  For details on how to subscribe to the survey and information on the Books and Consumers Annual Conference, click here

METHODOLOGY

Originally launched in 1989,  BML’s Books & Consumers survey monitors purchases of new books by British consumers, using a nationally representative panel of 15,000 individuals aged 13-79 run by Kantar World panel.  Respondents on the panel record all their new book purchases, for children as well as adults, from all sources.  Data on these purchases are collected using online data capture.  Data recorded for each purchase includes:

• the ISBN of the product purchased
• the price paid, and whether this was at discount
• the name and type of source
• the age/sex/social grade, presence of children, working status, marital status and TV region of the buyer
• the age/sex of recipient
• the purchase prompt (review, recommendation, tv/radio, read other author/series, saw in shop, etc.)
• the purchase use (whether bought for xmas/birthday/other gift; if personal for family, travel, work, educational use)

The ISBN is linked to a bibliographic database to provide publisher/imprint, genre and format details. This allows BML to link every book purchased to the demographic details of the purchaser and the user, as well as to the source, the imprint, the genre, and the price paid.

To Top 

SUBSCRIBER BENEFITS

• detailed coverage of the total consumer book market, from any source
• purchasing by and for both children and adults
• trend data from 1997
• information on c. 50 main genres (as classified by publisher & TNS) with more detailed genre breakdowns available
• detailed market segmentation by publisher, named source, genre, type of consumer, price, etc.
• analyses by both value and volume

• penetration (number of buyers)
• average spend per buyer and average weight of purchase
• frequency of purchase
• purchasing repertoire/cross purchasing
• customer loyalty/residual purchasing
• possibility of recontacting members of the panel for further research

To Top 

REPORTS

A subscription to the survey ensures access to all data collected via written reports, e-mail bulletins and BML’s website.  Retainer days can be used for ad hoc enquiries and information requests.  The following are provided:

a) standard full year report on adult book purchases showing market segmentation by category/format, genre, publisher, source, price paid, discounting, purchase prompt/use, main user and buyer demographics, buying period.  Segmentation within all books for adults, and within paperback and hardback fiction and paperback and hardback non-fiction

b) as above, for children’s books

c) customised annual report or presentation, showing the analyses of particular interest and importance to subscriber

d) quarterly e-mail bulletins highlighting key trends for that period, and for the year to date

e) regular e-mail bulletins (Genrefacts, Spotlight on..., Ebook monitor) highlighting key facts and figures on a particular market sector

f) access to all main two-way analyses from the survey (source within buyer, reasons for purchase within buyer, buyer within publisher, etc) via BML’s website

g) an annual presentation of the main trends in consumer book purchasing for the preceding year, usually at the BML Conference

GENRES COVERED - ADULT

Since 2002 these main genres have been further classified into c. 200 sub-genres.

Designed and hosted by
London Web