 General
Quick Overview
Do you recall the movie "You've Got Mail"? You might think that
independent bookstores are going out of style since the quaint
children’s bookstore, owned by Kathleen (Meg Ryan) lost business to the
big chain store down the street run by Joe (Tom Hanks).
In reality, the retail bookstore industry has maintained lots of
little independent bookstores despite the domineering bookstore chains.
One advantage for independent bookstores is that they can focus on a
specialty niche market unlike the chain bookstores that carry popular
titles on many topics.
Online shopping for books is popular, however some customers still
choose to buy their books from a brick and mortar store because they
can browse the shelves and then preview their choices. The online
sellers have matched that customer browsing desire with the ability to
preview pages of a book.
See the link to the bookstore industry snapshot below for more details!
Veronica Rodriguez and Judith Johnson
Industry Snapshot: Bookstores
Take a look at our full
industry report from 05/15/2007 on Bookstores (PDF Format). If you are
interested in other industry snapshots, visit our SBDC
Counselors Toolkit or the Enewsletter archives at http://sbdcnet.org/E-Newsletters.php.
Did You Know?
More
than likely your client has asked about obtaining a customer list in
order to advertise their business. Where do you turn to obtain "the
list"? Brokers compile databases of names from subscribers of
magazines, school enrollments, yellow page directories, and other
sources. The names can be sorted by geography, title/function, gender,
income or other special criteria depending upon the client need. These
are then sold in various formats.
The purveyors of
direct mail lists can be found in your local printed yellow pages under
"advertising – direct mail", "mailing lists" or "list brokers" or try
the online version of the nationwide yellow pages at http://www.superpages.com/. Check the Direct Marketing Association (http://www.the-dma.org/)
"Tools" tab then "Direct Mail Research" for list brokers convenient to
you. SBDCNet has access to the SRDS "Direct Marketing List Source"
database http://www.srds.com/, which provides specific periodical list brokers who sell subscriber lists often priced by lots of one thousand records.
Are You Paying Attention to Demographic Trends?
According
to the U.S. Census and Sites on Texas, retail bookstore sales in the
U.S. have grown from $14,548,642 in 2002 to $16,860,300,353 in 2006.
Looking ahead, the retail bookstore 2011 projection, provided by Sites
on Texas, indicates an increase of $3.69 for average annual household
spending on books. This translates into total book sales of an
estimated $17,000,000,000 by then. (Note: the U.S Census identifies the
industry as Book store; for consistency it was edited to one word here).
| NAICS 451211Bookstore |
Establishments |
2002 Sales $$ |
| Bookstores Total
|
10,898 |
14,548,642 |
| Bookstores General
|
6,362 |
9,074,945 |
| Specialty Bookstores
|
2,693 |
1,538,619 |
| College Bookstores
|
1,843 |
822,266 |
http://www.census.gov/prod/ec02/ec0244i04.pdf
| 2006 Consumer Expenditures (Average Household Annual Expenditures): Books |
U.S. Household $63.18
|
| 2011 Consumer Expenditures (Average Household Expenditures): Books
|
U.S. Household $66.87 |
SitesOnTexas is brought to you by SRC, LLC. © 2006 All Rights Reserved
| Bookstores Retail Sales Potential (Average Annual Household Dollars 2006) |
U.S. Household $151
|
| Bookstores Retail Sales Potential (Aggregate Household Dollars 2006)
|
Entire U.S.
$16,860,300,353
|
SitesOnTexas is brought to you by SRC, LLC. © 2006 All Rights Reserved
Chuck Brant
|
