How has book buying changed during COVID-19? How did the pandemic affect purchasing habits and cultural consumption?
According to the survey “Reading and Cultural Consumption in the Year of Emergency,” sponsored by the Center for Books and Reading (Cepell) of Mibact and the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) with the collaboration of Pepe Research, Italians read more in 2020.
In fact, the number of respondents between the ages of 15 and 74 who read at least one book (print, eBook, or audiobook) in October 2020 increased by 3 percentage points from the May 2020 and October 2019 data (58 percent), for a total of 27.6 million people.
Compared with the pre-pandemic situation, the ways of book use and purchase have also changed.
In fact, 40% of those in October said they have read at least one book in the past 12 months read digitally, compared with 46% of those who prefer paper. In contrast, 14 percent use all types of media, analog and digital.
Books, eBooks and audiobooks: online book purchases grow with COVID-19
If we look at 2019 data, just one year before the pandemic, “digital” readers were 32 percent, compared with 51 percent who read in print and 17 percent who used both modes.
Due to the requirement to remain confined indoors during the worst months of the pandemic between March and May, 2020 saw a significant increase in the number of Italians who purchased online and readers who opted for digital media. Specifically, book readers and former customers of traditional bookstores who bought a book online for the first time came to 3.4 million, while those who bought an eBook for the first time came to 2.3 million.
According to data from the AIE survey “Effects of Covid-19 on the Market and Purchasing Behaviors in this first part of 2021,” it is also estimated that 31 percent of readers between the ages of 15 and 75 read more because they had the opportunity to discover new offerings and unprecedented offerings on the web: it seems, in fact, that in online bookstores it is easier to intercept lesser-known books and authors, and this would have led to an increased interest in reading and, consequently, purchases.
As physical bookstores struggled to drive sales during the pandemic, it was therefore online that fostered a 54 percent increase in sales that grew the industry in 2020.
In 2020, print book readers were 55 percent, eBook readers 30 percent, while those choosing audiobooks rose to 12 percent (+2 percent).
Italians are returning to bookstores. Other physical outlets and libraries also do well.
The unquestionable growth in the number of Italians who have taken up online shopping, however, has not decreed the death of bookstores, far from it.
In fact, again according to data collected by the Italian Publishers Association and the Mibact’s Center for Books and Reading, as of October 2020, 67 percent of readers said they continue to frequent bookstores. This figure is down slightly from the previous year’s numbers (74 percent), but up sharply from the 20 percent in May 2020.
Also at the end of 2020, 23 percent of readers chose other physical outlets, particularly supermarkets, while in 2019 the percentage stood at 21 percent.
41% of Italians have rediscovered home library titles and library lending (as well as loans and gifts from relatives, acquaintances, and friends) as a source of reading.
In particular, bookstores proved essential in choosing what to read: 33% of readers, in fact, choose which titles to buy once they enter a bookstore. In contrast, 23 percent rely on information found online, while 21 percent rely on traditional media.
Ebooks and audiobooks are on the rise, then, as is the e-commerce channel in general. In spite of this, the physical channel (bookstores or Gdo) and the paper book are not only not retreating, but are returning to attract customers almost to pre-pandemic levels.
