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Ukrainian book market research – 5th wave of consumer’s study
The main trends of the book market during the last year (December 2006 – December 2007):
§The percentage of people (aged 15-59 y. o.) who bought at least 1 book during the last 3 months decreased by 7% and equaled 34% in December 2007. This recession started in September 2006 and equaled 2-3% quarterly. As a result, the number of the book buyers decreased from 42% in September 2006 to 34% in December 2007.
The reduction of the book buyers share from September 2006 till June 2007 is most likely connected with seasonal changes, whereas the reduction from June till December 2007 is caused by the sudden rising of the books prices (the mean value of a book bought in December 2006 was UAH 21, whereas in June 2007 it was UAH 23,9, and in December 2007 it reached UAH 29,8). The last hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that the decrease of the book buyers share happened due to respondents who evaluate their income as below average, thus they are more sensitive to price changes than the respondent with average incomes. §In addition, in December 2007, there is some decrease in interest to the books comparing to the previous waves of the study. In particular, the number of those who never go to bookstores to buy a certain book significantly rose (from 33% in December 2006 to 38% in December 2007). Among non-buyers, there are more people who admitted the absence of a need/interest to books (from 48% in December 2006 to 53% in December 2007). Among buyers, in comparison with June 2007, following reasons became less popular: recommendation of their friends (from 14% to 9%), preference of certain book series (from 12% to 7%), and advertising (from 4% to 2%). All above-mentioned can indicate the decrease of public attention to the topic of books; less books are discussed and advertised. §However, the average number of books bought during the last three months significantly rose in comparison with the previous year (2,9 in December 2007 against 2,6 in December 2006).
The number of books bought in Ukrainian language also increased (from December 2006 in all the waves, the number of books in Ukrainian made 37% of the whole amount of purchased books, while in December 2007 this number reached 46%, in other words, almost a half of all purchased books). §Among the book buyers, the number of those who during the last 3 months have purchased the books in the book shops and supermarkets rose (from 51% in December 2006 to 60% in December 2007), while street stalls became less popular (from 22% of buyers using them in December 2006 to 13% of those in December 2007). The latter is probably caused by the book prices increase, since among the buyers purchasing books at street stalls prevail the people with an income below average, who in December 2007 started to buy less books.
The reduction of the book buyers share from 41% (Dec 2006) to 34% (Dec 2007) occurred mainly in the following socio-demographic categories: Respondents who evaluate their life standard as below average. Village inhabitants (probably, decrease of the book buyers share in this category could be indirectly explained by lower income of villagers comparing to town-dwellers). Respondents aged 15-19 and 40-49 years. Employed. Respondents from Western region. Respondents without children under 16 years. The increase of the average number of purchased books from 2,6 (Dec 06) to 2,9 (Dec 07) occurred mainly in the following socio-demographic categories: Men. Respondents aged 40-49 years.
Demographic characteristics of the book buyers: Women continue to buy books more often than men: 41% of women bought at least 1 book while among men the percentage of the book buyers was only 27%. However, the frequency of books buying is the same in both categories. On average, men bought more books in December 2007 than in December 2006 (2,8 and 2,3 books respectively). The average number of purchased books in December 2007 increased in comparison with December 2006 mostly due to men. §The biggest share of the book buyers is that of respondents aged 20-39 years, as they bought the largest number of books during the last 3 months in this wave of the study. Taking into consideration all waves of the research, age groups of the book buyers can be described as following: 1) 30-39-year-old respondents buy comparatively more books and do it more often; the smallest share of the book buyers is among people aged 50-59 years ; respondents in the 15-19 age category buy the smallest number of the books. §In December 2007, the share of book buyers among school and university students, unemployed and employed respondents does not differ significantly from the previous waves. Retired people remain the category with the smallest share of the book buyers (22% in December 2007).
The shares of the book buyers in different regions fluctuate across all waves of the study, however, in any of the regions there is no distinct tendency of buying more or less books comparing with others regions. Respondents with children under 16 continue to buy more books than those without children. §The share of book buyers in cities of different size is approximately the same. The smallest share remains among the villagers (26%), in addition, it has significantly decreased in comparison with December 2006, from 36% to 26%. The number of book buyers grows stably with increase of the well-being level (according to the self-assessment).
What kind of books Ukrainians buy? Books as a present: In December 2007, the vast majority of buyers (80%) continued to purchase books only for themselves or their family, and 20% of people purchased books as a present. Fluctuations of these shares across all waves of the study are not statistically significant. Types of the books: The popularity of different books’ types does not change across all waves of the study. During the year, fiction was the type of books purchased more often (in December 2007, 38% of the last purchased books belonged to this category). In December 2007,the elder respondents were, the more often they bought books. In addition, men started to buy fiction more often than women. Although, taking into consideration all waves of the research, it can not be assumed that certain age or gender categories permanently prefer fiction. In December 2007, 27% of respondents purchased educational or scientific literature, 7% bought dictionaries and encyclopedias . Educational and scientific literature is most often bought by respondents aged 15-19 years. In December 2007, women started to buy these types of books more often than men. §20% of buyers purchased books for children in December 2007. Women keep buying these types of books more often (25%) than men (13%). Books for children are the least popular among 15-19-year-old buyers, whereas, in the other age groups the frequency of purchasing these books is approximately the same in all waves of the study.
Books’ prices: §During the second half of the 2007, the significant price rise of all books’ types occurred. Average price of the last bought book grew from UAH 24 in June 2007 to UAH 30 in December 2007. Educational books, fiction, and books for children cost 6-7 UAH more in comparison with June 2007 and 10 UAH more in comparison with December 2006. In December 2007, educational and scientific books were purchased for UAH 33 on average, fiction was bought for UAH 30, and books for children for UAH 22. In December, the highest prices remained in the South, UAH 38 (Kyiv is not considered because of too small number of respondents). The highest prices also remained in big cities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants, UAH 34 on average.
Language: in December, the gap between books bought in Ukrainian and in Russian was significantly smaller. The number of books in Russian exceeds corresponding number of Ukrainian books 6%, not 22% as it was in June. The percentage of books purchased in Russian equaled 52% and that of books in Ukrainian reached 46%. At the same time, the share of those who during the last 3 months purchased books only in Russian (50%) or only in Ukrainian (32%) remained the same as in June. Most often, scientific, educational books and books for children are bought in Ukrainian, approximately 50%. The number of people, who buy fiction and poetry in Ukrainian makes only 30%. The smallest percentage of books bought in Ukrainian is in the East, 7%, in the South it equaled 20% in December 2007, whereas in the Center it reached 58%, and 90% in the West. All the changes across different waves of the research are not significant.
Searching for books: In December 2007, the amount of people who never visit book stores in order to buy a certain book increased from 34% to 38%. There are no other changes in comparison with previous waves of the study:24% of respondents still had the problem of finding a necessary book in December 2007 (only 13% of whom find the book they are looking for, 8% — rarely find it, 3% — could never find a necessary book). Nevertheless, 39% always find the book they needed. Men less often look for a certain book in the stores than women. Also, the older the respondent is the more rarely he looks for certain books in shops.
Reasons to buy books: §The main reason of purchasing books is the interest to their content for the reader (43% of buyers chose this reason). Less popular reasons (15-16% of buyers) are the following: 16% bought the most recent book for studying, work or there was a necessity, 15% liked the author of the book, and 15% were attracted by the design of the book. §9% of the buyers followed recommendations of their friends and acquaintances, 8% were asked to buy the book by relatives or friends, 7% prefer certain book series, 6% were attracted by the title of the book. The least popular (under 3%) reasons are advertising (2%), trust to certain publisher (3%), recommendations of the shop consultant (3%). §In comparison with the previous wave, in December 2007 the following reasons became less popular: recommendation of the friends (from 14% to 9%), preference of certain book series (from 12% to 7%), and advertising (from 4% to 2%). It could indicate the decrease of public attention to the topic of books; less books are discussed and advertised.
Reasons not to buy books : The most frequently mentioned reason continues to be absence of the interest or need in books, this reason was mentioned by approximately half of the respondents who haven’t purchased books during the last three months. At the same time, this reason becomes more frequent among non-buyers; in comparison with December 2006, it was mentioned by 5% more respondents (48% against 53%). The reason was more frequent for men (62%) than for women (44%). §Lack of money remains to be the second most frequently mentioned reason, near 20% of respondents in all waves of the research stated that they cannot afford buying a book, and another 10% people said that the book they were willing to buy was too expensive for them. Furthermore, in all waves women said more often that they could not afford books than men (in December 2007 this reason was mentioned by 24% of women and 10% of men). The third reason not to buy books was borrowing them from friends and library (10%).
Respondents in the age of 15-19 borrowed books from library or friends twice as often as respondents from the other age categories. §In December 2007, the percentage of the people who purchased books in book shops and supermarkets increased from 47% in June to 60%. The number of fiction books bought in shops stopped reducing and again equaled the level of December 2006, 49%. The second most popular place of buying books remains to be book market, where 32% of respondents purchased books; that is 10% less than in June (probably because of cold weather). The most popular books’ types bought on the markets are the fiction and books for children. The third place takes the Book club (19%). As in the previous waves, fiction, science/educational books, and other books’ types which belong to fiction are most frequently bought in the Book club. Its customers mostly live in the village or city with population under 500 thousand, women, and those who assess their income as low. The percentage of buyers who purchased books at street stalls reduced from 22% in December 2006 and 19% in June 2007 to 13% in December 2007). Possibly, it is connected with the price rise for books, since buyers who get books at street stalls usually evaluate their income as below average, and this category started to buy books less frequently in December 2007. Approximately 2% of respondents purchased books from traveling salesmen, 2% from second-hand bookseller, 1% of buyers ordered books online or directly from publisher.
Research was initiated and supported by the International Renaissance Foundation, the Fund for Central and East European Book Projects (Amsterdam) and the MATRA program of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The research is conducted by GfK Ukraine (www.gfk.com).
Tasks of the comprehensive research of the Ukrainian book market :
- To find out what share of Ukrainian population buys books, and what motives are behind these purchases;
- To investigate books distribution channels;
- To analyse differences among buyers by distribution channels and socio-demographic characteristics;
- To study seasonal fluctuations on the book market;
- To gather and analyse information about publishers, retailers and wholesalers, operating on the market of Ukraine.
Ukrainian book market research – 5th wave of consumer’s study
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Iryna Kuchma, Social Capital and Academic Publications Program Manager ..•
tel: +380 (44) 461 95 00 |
fax: +380 (44) 486 01 66
electronic mail: kuchma@irf.kiev.ua
office: Kyiv, Bekhterevsky Lane, 13-a, room 1
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