From paperbacks and news racks, to coffee, Nooks and Kindles
How book smarts became bookstore smart
In a digital-dominant world where 96% of Americans shop online, it may be quite the surprise to learn that print books are still more popular than e-books. The 2021 report from the Association of American Publishers reported $25.75 billion in revenue, slightly less than the $25.77 billion in revenue from 2019.
During the pandemic, trade book purchases increased 6% to $16.67 billion while higher education books were on the decline at 5.7% ($3.1 billion). Meanwhile, e-books made 11.7% of revenue at $2.12 billion, which was surprising considering they’d been on the decline since 2014. But social isolation and quarantining kept people out of (steadily closing) bookstores, possibly forcing consumers to read more online content.
Still, from trade books to education books to fiction novels, consumers favor flipping paper pages more than clicking and scrolling for information. In decades past, paperbacks and hardcovers were the obvious reference to stay informed. But in a digital age, people are choosing where they get their information — from fiction to nonfiction to news.
Recommended Read: “Library box: The alternate book club ~ How to give away and receive books through a book box program”
Interestingly, print newspapers are going the way of majority of bookstores — steadily dying out. Poynter reports that weekly circulation has consistently declined since 2004, with more than 1,700 weekly newspapers long gone. People are still getting news, but they’re opting for smartphones, streaming services and online articles to stay informed. But if the digital landscape reigns supreme for news, how is it that physical bookstores have had such a roller coaster ride when consumers still aren’t reading e-books the way they are online news?
The escape to a world of books: Borders versus Barnes & Noble
Consumer habits are one way to explain the news versus books debate. Seventy-five percent of people make online purchases at least once per month. Meanwhile, independent bookstores are slowly dwindling out with the popularity of eBay and (now-defunct) Half.com and heavy hitter Amazon, while B. Dalton, Waldenbooks and Hastings Entertainment became a thing of the past. Yet Barnes & Noble has approximately 600 bookstores nationwide, and sells more than 190 million physical books annually in retail stores and online.
Big Commerce reports that the most popular purchases to buy online are books, music and movies — literally the descriptor in the now-defunct Borders Books, Music, Movies & Cafe chains (and one of my former employers). So was Borders’ business motto too avant-garde, or did consumers just take too long to get on board? It seems like it’s neither.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases using my referral links.
Borders had just as many lunch and dinner items, along with books and music, as Barnes & Noble. And anyone who goes to Borders.com will be redirected to BarnesandNoble.com. Ouch! But here’s how B&N rode the book wave.
First, B&N got a Nook — an online reader for those who liked e-books as much as physical books. Second, NPR reports that Borders started leaning heavier on music and less on books. Meanwhile, B&N stood firmly in the middle. Third, B&N started paying more attention to its website for online sales while Borders gave their online sales over to Amazon — the same company responsible for most bookstores closing. Once the damage was done, now Amazon will close its own 68 bookstores this year. B&N basically looked at a competitor like Amazon but treated their retail chain the way stock investors treat their investments; they stuck it out for the long haul.
Relationship with books? It’s complicated
Readers treat print books like old friends. They may not pick them up all the time, but they’re never so far out of reach that books will be forgotten. Arguably, trade books came in handy as an escape from coronavirus, Omicron and monkeypox news. Consumers had enough time on their hands without a work commute to actually sit down and read again. No matter what the reason is, books still top the list of online purchases with only apparel to beat them.
Also, audiobooks have given readers the option to “read” while driving, exercising and other visually distracting activities. E-books give readers the opportunity to share their books with friends, without ever having to worry about unwanted dog-eared pages or food splatter from borrowed print copies. And even libraries started offering digital options, in addition to paperbacks and hardcovers, for the on-the-go readers.
The past couple of decades have given readers more options. Instead of forcing them to be glued to a physical book, now they can take that same book to listen to it while walking their dogs, driving their cars, sitting on the train or laying across their beds. If Borders had spent more time installing headphones for e-books and less for the latest singles, could it have lasted? Who knows?
Recommended Read: “Could more bookstores survive if they act like libraries? ~ Are libraries helping millennials be even more antisocial?”
Will the book relationship change post-pandemic?
In 2020, reading in a coffee shop while nursing the same cup of coffee for hours was not an option. Retail chains — Starbucks specifically — made drive-thrus the only option. Chairs and tables were removed altogether until early this year.
Of course, consumers were still able to stream music and videos from home or walk around outside to get some air. But that sense of community for fellow book clubs and readers was lost — and now it’s back. With social isolation ending and stores reopening, now consumers can go back to enjoying hanging out in restaurants and coffee shops again — books in hand and music streaming through their wireless headphones.
And while Generation Z continues to participate in the Great Resignation even after coronavirus dwindled, pretty much everyone on a virtual conference call looked like a reader anyway. For the past two years, Zoom and UberConference callers saw a wide variation of books in the background — color-coded and neatly organized — while users chatted from home. So even when consumers weren’t hanging out in bookstores or buying books online, they sure did look the part.
(Note: This post was originally published as an Upwork freelancer for RETHINK Retail.)
Did you enjoy this post? You’re also welcome to check out my Substack columns “Black Girl In a Doggone World,” “BlackTechLogy,” “Homegrown Tales,” “I Do See Color,” “One Black Woman’s Vote” and “Window Shopping” too. Subscribe to this newsletter for the monthly post on the third Thursday.
If you’re not ready to subscribe but want to support my writing, you’re welcome to tip me for this post! I’ll buy a dark hot chocolate on you. Thanks for reading!