As publishers have produced a wider range of content formats, consumers have shifted their buying habits — with publishers responding in a variety of ways.
The data in BookStats addresses how publishers sell their products and to whom; it lacks the capacity to examine how and where consumers ultimately make purchases. This means that publishers are not always certain of their products’ final destination — a publisher’s sale to a wholesaler could wind up anywhere from a big box store to an online retail site.
This, in turn, affects how to interpret what might appear in BookStats as market growth or decline in some channels. It might simply represent a routine shift in distribution channels.
Working within this cautionary framework, some highlights:
Trade Retail sales
For 2010, overall bricks and mortar Trade retail remains the largest distribution channel - 40.8% of total — in the U.S.
Chain Stores make up the vast majority of publishers’ sales directly to retailers (53.54%), followed by Independent Booksellers and Specialty Stores (10.6% each) and Mass Merchants (3.84%).
Publishers’ sales to Wholesalers and Jobbers (30.1% in 2010) have an impact on the numbers above, particularly for Independents, Specialty Stores and Mass Merchants, outlets that rely on Wholesalers/Jobbers as merchandise sources.
Retail Chains
Publishers’ net sales revenue to brick-and-mortar Retail Chains saw significant swings over the three years with an overall -2.7% decline. Net revenue to Retail Chains for 2010 is $3.06 Billion.
Net units reflect the same pattern with a 2008-2010 growth rate of +3.0%. In 2010, total units are 436 Million.
Independent Retail
While seeing some loss over the three-year arc, Independents did not experience the changes seen by Retail Chains. Publishers’ books sold directly to Independents declined 1.8% from 2008-2009 and had a -3.7% decline from 2009-2010. Net sales revenue for publishers directly into the Independent market for 2010 is $642 Million. Net unit sales directly to Independents for 2010 is 52.9 Million.
Online Retail
From 2008-2010, Online Retail clearly gained market share that other channels lost. There are two distinct factors contributing to this: the strong overall growth of the online channel as consumers are switching their purchase preferences and the explosion of the e-book as a reading format.
Net sales revenue reported by publishers for content sold directly to online channels is $2.82 Billion in 2010. This year-over-year growth represents an 18.8% increase from 2008-2009 and 30.7% from 2009-2010, for a three-year overall growth of 55.2%.
Net unit sales growth has been even stronger, from 19.6% in 2008-2009 to 40.9% in 2009-2010, a total growth of 68.6%. Total net unit sales by publishers to online channels in 2010 is 276 Million.
Mass Merchants, Jobbers and Wholesalers
Since these three channels are so reliant on each other, it is difficult to provide an accurate analysis of them. It does appear, however, that publishers are increasingly making sales directly into Mass Merchants, with both net sales revenue (553.4%) and net unit sales (294.7%) up over the past three years. As Mass Merchants have experienced this increase, there has been a noticeable drop in publishers’ sales to Jobbers and Wholesalers where revenue has declined -6.7% and net units fell -9.6%.
Institutional sales
This channel includes sales to such destinations as libraries, government agencies and professional businesses. Publishers’ sales reflect the downturned economy in 2008-2009, with a 11.7% decline, and a rebound in 2009-2010 with a +6.8% increase. Publisher net sales revenue and unit sales for 2010 are $5.97 Billion and 143 Million units.
Other channels
Publishers reported a healthy growth in net revenue in direct-to-consumer, export sales, book clubs and fairs; volume among these channels ranged from 7% to 10% over the past three years. Such growth reflects publishers’ and end consumers’ interests in continually expanding where they can sell and buy books.