Christmas 2020: ‘Brilliant’ according to publishers
Despite heading into Christmas with a high degree of confidence after a year of strong lockdown-boosted sales, most Australian publishers surveyed were nonetheless pleasantly surprised to find Christmas sales even...
The wash up
It's clear that booksellers around the country have been doing their utmost to hold onto their customers in 2011. ‘We have worked very hard this year with events, social media...
Pre-Christmas survey 2011: A mixed bag
The attitude of booksellers going into Christmas 2011 could best be described as cautiously optimistic. After last year's dismal Christmas, it's perhaps not surprising that many booksellers have been hesitant...
Stock, supply, staff… sale?
For the most part, as well as being happy with the books on offer, booksellers were also generally content with publishers' efforts in the realm of supply, though bestseller data...
Online sales, ebooks and ereaders
In 2011, most stores surveyed reported being part of a chain with a retail website that sold print books (63%), 18% reported that their store had its own retail website,...
Publisher perspectives
While some booksellers appear to be enjoying a bump in sales owing to the collapse of REDgroup, the loss in retail space has come at a cost to publishers, with...
The books … and book prices
The good news for publishers (and most book retailers) is that booksellers surveyed said they thought the range of books on offer this Christmas was strong (64%), up from only...
Post-Christmas survey: 45% report sales down
This year's post-Christmas survey results tell a not-unexpected story--and for Australian bricks and mortar booksellers, it's not a good one. After two-thirds of booksellers surveyed reported pre-Christmas sales were down...
Post-Christmas survey: 45% report sales down
This year's post-Christmas survey results tell a not-unexpected story--and for Australian bricks and mortar booksellers, it's not a good one. After two-thirds of booksellers surveyed reported pre-Christmas sales were down...
Complete our annual pre-Christmas survey
Bookseller+Publisher is currently conducting its annual pre-Christmas survey of book retailers and suppliers. If a representative of your store or company has not yet completed the survey, please take a...
WBN pre-Christmas survey shows booksellers expecting an ‘okay’ Christmas
‘Given the economic climate ...' For better or worse, this was the phrase of the survey this year. Whether it was delivered as a precursor to surprisingly good results or...
WBN pre-Christmas survey shows booksellers expect an ‘okay’ Christmas
‘Given the economic climate ...' For better or worse, this was the phrase of the survey this year. Whether it was delivered as a precursor to surprisingly good results or...
Is the book recession-proof?
While not all booksellers were doing as well as Serdiuk or Tilsley, many are confident that books will remain a sound gift choice this Christmas. ‘Some of our customers are...
The stats: equal value and volume growth
For all the doom and gloom, Nielsen BookScan's chart (below) shows that in the eight weeks to 29 November the value of books sold grew 0.9%, as compared to the...
The books
The bookseller response to publishers' lists this year has been slightly less positive than in previous years, with 61% saying they thought the books on offer were ‘strong'--down from 67%...
Non-book items
For most booksellers, non-book items such as DVDs were selling well, with standards such as cards, wrapping, bookmarks, diaries and calendars also tracking as usual. DVDs, games and other merchandise...
Catalogues, stock and staff
While the catalogue is clearly a staple for Christmas, with 81% of those surveyed reporting they were involved in one, either their own or a group/chain catalogue, only 53% reported...
Supply and availability: ‘not as bad as last year’
On the supply and availability of titles, while many booksellers said supply was a little slower than they'd hope, most reported that on the whole things were running very smoothly....
Meanwhile, in New Zealand
Across the pond in New Zealand availability and supply emerged as a key issue for booksellers WBN surveyed. WBN spoke to a representative sample of chain stores and independents in...
Online selling comes home?
In Australia, online bookselling emerged as a true success story for several booksellers. Richard Parslow of Seekbooks.com.au and Tony Nash of Booktopia.com.au both reported online sales had more than doubled...