Second-hand market drives growth in Amazon textbook sales
LONDON, 18th March 2008
Increasing student demand for second-hand textbooks is pushing more and more students towards Amazon as the place to buy all their textbooks, according to new research from educational publishing consultancy Shift Media.
In their latest piece of Shift Media Syndicated Business Intelligence, Addressing the second-hand student book market Shift Media investigates how demand for second hand texts is developing through interviews with 943 undergraduate students throughout the UK.
"The second-hand market is growing fast, particularly in some subject areas.” says Jane Powell of Shift Media,
"Students increasingly expect to buy their second-hand textbooks from Amazon, in our survey, Amazon market place accounted for 42% of all second-hand sales. If they can’t find a second-hand copy on market place then they’ll consider buying a new copy and since they are already on the Amazon site, this is pushing sales of new textbooks through Amazon too. As demand for second-hand texts continues to increase, we can expect to see Amazon becoming an ever more dominant supplier of textbooks in the UK.”
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Addressing the second-hand student book market
In 2006, Shift Media conducted a large-scale survey of the UK Higher Education
sector, looking at the size of the market for second-hand student books
in the UK and at the factors which might drive future growth. Our approach
was designed to establish the behaviour and attitudes of both students
and lecturers in a way that was both robust and measurable. This year
we repeated the student side of this study, interviewing 943 students
across the UK. Fieldwork took place in December 2007.
Our key objectives were:
• To measure and track the impact of the second-hand market on sales.
• To identify how the second-hand market varies by year and by subject.
• To seek to understand what is driving second-hand sales.
• To investigate the student behaviours and attitudes that might
determine the success of different strategies to reduce the impact of
the second-hand market on new book sales.
A full copy of the report is available to subscribers at £1950 + V.A.T.
Shift Media Syndicated Business Intelligence
Shift Media Syndicated Business Intelligence is designed to inform investment
decisions for the education and learning sector. We investigate key decision
areas and share results among the members who subscribe. This service
is a cost-effective way for publishers to keep up-to-date with market
developments and is used by many of the UK’s leading publishers.
About Shift Media
Shift Media is a consultancy that specialises in education and learning.
It conducts market research and usability testing and creates multimedia
materials for publishing companies, corporate universities and the public
sector. Its recent clients include Cambridge University Press, Collins,
McGraw-Hill Education, Cengage, Collins Education, Oxford University Press
and Sage.
Contact information:
Jane Powell, Director, Shift Media, 020 7253 8959, jane.powell@shift-media.co.uk