A sister report to our annual Business of Consumer Book Publishing and new for 2009, Trends in Trade Book Retailing compiles national data on who is buying books, what they're buying and where they’re buying them, as well as detailed overviews of the major channels and how their market share is trending.

The one-upmanship of Amazon, Walmart and Target's price war for new hardcover releases in fall 2009 was foreshadowed in the report, which also spells out the consumer share of online and non-bookstore retailing channels.

The report provides a “scorecard” for each channel—bookstores, the Internet, book clubs, and “other”—and a demographic overview of the average consumer who uses each, including book clubs. Simba compiled data from Simmons Market Research Bureau’s national consumer survey for this analysis. The four channels are also ranked by the estimated number of customers, what formats they buy, and how many titles the consumers purchase.

To gain a better understanding of the relationship consumers have with books on the retail level, Simba has added this essential analysis to its research collection.

With the book retailing segment as challenged as it is, no publisher, retailer, or industry analyst can afford not to have this vital tool.