AAP Consumer Data Presentation, April 7, 2011

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Present: New Ways to Understand Shifting Book Sales Channels
April 7, 2011

James Howitt–Director of Publishing Services, Bowker
James oversees the client relationship of a host of Bowker business intelligence services, including the PubTrack consumer research panel reaching annually over 40,000 ‘e’ and ‘p’ book consumers. In addition to being involved in the consumer research panel, he oversees sales data collection and analytics tools for the higher education and trade book markets for Bowker. Before his current position James served for Nielsen BookScan UK and US managing client relationships with Point of Sale data.
Ted Hill-President, THA Consulting
With over 25 years experience in the publishing industry, Ted has launched dozens of new businesses and business initiatives. As a business development consultant with deep knowledge of the publishing and information industries Ted is a frequent speaker at industry events on the subject of publishing technology.
2
Presenters

Agenda
Introduction to consumer data
Background on the best practices
Introduction to howbook consumer data is used sales and marketing professionals
Essential facts
Key trends
Diving deeper

Tracking customers across different types of accounts
Projecting Impacts of shifts in consumer behavior on product lines
Projecting growth/decline based of categories based on demographic trends
Understanding why titles were bought when
Identify price paid per unit
Identifying lifetime value of customers
Selecting comp titles based on reader demographics
Understanding the reasons for purchase and purchase intent
Field Testing
Market basket analysis
Identifying new opportunities
Diving into book behavior
Usability Studies
Industry Key Performance Indicators
Consumer Bookshelves
Advertising and Social Media Book Awareness
Purchase Metrics
Standard Reports
All Custom Reports
Pricing Strategies
Genre Profiles
Quarterly Consumer Landscape – demographics, book, channel, genre, behavior trends report
Purchase Dynamics and Influences
-Planned vs. Impulse
Channel Analysis
-Market Share
Customer Value/Migration
Occasions/Shopping
Custom Reports
Book Cover and Package Design
- Cover Image Testing
- Page Layout Testing
- Product Design
Author Profiles
BISG’s Consumer Attitudes Toward E-book Reading Study
Book Lover Panels
Campaign Level Custom Projects
Character Profiles
BISG’s Student Attitudes Toward Content in Higher Education Study
Customer Satisfaction
Series Profiles
Usability Studies
- Web Testing
- App Testing
- Page Flip Technology
- Product Usability

Tracking customers across different types of accounts
Projecting growth/decline based of categories based on demographic trends
Using Consumer Data
Projecting Impacts of shifts in consumer behavior on product lines
Development
Planning
Acquisitions
Marketing
Sales
Understanding why titles were bought when
Identify price paid per unit
Identifying lifetime value of customers
Selecting comp titles based on reader demographics
Understanding the reasons for purchase and purchase intent
Field Testing
Market basket analysis
Identifying new opportunities
Diving into book behavior
Usability Studies
Industry Key Performance Indicators
Consumer Bookshelves
Advertising and Social Media Book Awareness
Purchase Metrics
Standard Reports
All Custom Reports
Pricing Strategies
Genre Profiles
Quarterly Consumer Landscape – demographics, book, channel, genre, behavior trends report
Purchase Dynamics and Influences
-Planned vs. Impulse
Channel Analysis
-Market Share
Customer Value/Migration
Occasions/Shopping
Book Cover and Package Design
- Cover Image Testing
- Page Layout Testing
- Product Design
Custom Reports
Author Profiles
BISG’s Consumer Attitudes Toward E-book Reading Study
Book Lover Panels
Campaign Level Custom Projects
Character Profiles
BISG’s Student Attitudes Toward Content in Higher Education Study
Customer Satisfaction
Usability Studies
- Web Testing
- App Testing
- Page Flip Technology
- Product Usability
Series Profiles

Balancing the art and science of publishing

“In a world awash in data, we need to know what’s essential and what’s a distraction.”
-Publishing Executive

2010 Annual Consumer Sample & Methodology
45,000 US book buyers annually
6,000 US book buyers per month (starting Jan 2011)
Selected according to Age, Gender, Income, Household size, and location balanced to US Census
Representing an annual view of 250,000 book purchases and 90,000 shopping occasions
All purchases collected at ISBN level using Bowker’s Books in Print Web Services
Online survey conducted monthly
Ages 13 & older
97% confidence rating
2.5% margin of error

Began project in fall of 2009
Goal was to look at how consumer data is used throughout the organization
Conducted interviews with executives in different functional areas (editorial, sales, marketing, etc.)
White paper released April 2010
A lot’s changed since then!
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Introduction to consumer data
New technologies are changing traditional publishing practices
Consumer data is rapidly becoming an essential tool for all stages of the publishing process
Reveals who buys books and why they choose the titles they buy
It’s utility varies depending on the job and business goals of the person using it
The value comes from knowing the essential facts following key trends, and diving deeper into the data to solve specific business problems

Consumer data validates & provides context

Using book consumer data
Understand the essential facts about book consumers
Follow key trends in how they are changing who and what they buy
Know how and when to dive deeper into the data to solve business problems

Understand the essential facts
“We keep our finger on the pulse with POS data. Then we use consumer data to tell us who’s buying what and why?”
-Data Analyst

Understand the essential facts

Essential facts for marketing
How channel customer demographics, and motivations to buy differ from one genre or category to another and from one account to another
How average selling price and format preferences for books differ from one channel to another
Factors that influence purchase decisions or where different demographic groups learn about new titles

Essential facts for sales
How the demographic profile of the consumer who buys a book at Target differs from the typical Wal-Mart consumer or from the consumers at one of the large book chains
For which genres and categories is in-store display most important
The best times of year to sell to a particular group of consumers

Who is the graphic novel buyer?Full Year 2010 – Books Purchased

Where are they shopping? Full Year 2010 – Books Purchased

What formats are they buying? Full Year 2010 – Books Purchased

Why do they purchase? Full Year 2010 – Books Purchased

How do they become aware? Full Year 2010 – Books Purchased

How impulsive are fiction buyers? Full Year 2010 – Books Purchased

Let’s break if we want to

Follow key trends
“We’ve always assume that trade paperbacks are bought by Gen Xers and Gen Ys because they’re cheaper, but that’s just not the case anymore.”
-Marketing Director

Follow key trends
Are the readers and buyers of your books changing as a group?
Will there be more or fewer of them in the future?
Are they changing how and where they buy their books?
Will it be easier or harder to reach them in the future?

Key trends for marketing
Both seasonal and long term sales trends
Pricing trends--shifts in average selling price, frequency of purchase, purchases per shopping trip, and market baskets
All trends related to where consumers learn about books and authors
All trends related to who learns about books online (social media, etc.)

Key trends for sales
Demographic trends for book consumer and sales channels
Pricing trends for different formats and genres
Shifts in frequency of shopping, purchases per visit or size of the average market basket
Seasonal and regional trends
Shifts to buying and reading online for different categories

How much are consumers paying for young adult titles?
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Ebook buyer trends

How are those trends changing?

Online influence vs. traditional print/media
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Bowker PubTrack™ Consumer - © 2010

Know when & how to dive deeper
“I’d like to know if some readers are just more profitable than others.”
-Publisher

Know when & how to dive deeper
Should we publish more or fewer titles in a category or format?
How can we allocate our marketing resources to get the most sales?
Are we pricing our books appropriately?
Are there ways we can change our publishing strategy to increase revenue or reduce returns?
What’s the best cover image, web design, ad copy, or shelf placement for a title?

The bulls eye pattern of influence
websites, advertising
friend, relative
teacher, librarian
Influence declines significantly with each layer
parent
child
Local bookseller
favorite author
mass media, the world

Where are children’s books purchased? Full year 2010

Libraries dominate as a source for books for ages 7 to12

Who buys specific fiction genres?Gender of fiction sub-genres based on units in Q4 10
Mystery Espionage

Who buys specific fiction genres?Age of fiction sub-genres based on units in Q4 10
Mystery Espionage

Who buys specific fiction genres?Income of fiction sub-genres based on units in Q4 10
Mystery Espionage

Where do people shop?Gender by outlet based on units in Q4 10

Where do people shop?Age by outlet based on units in Q4 10

Where do people shop?Income by outlet based on units in Q4 10

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How do my genres match the outlets that people shop at?

The value for marketing
“We make a huge number of assumptions and rely on anecdotal information. I’d like to know who really buys what in each account.”
-Marketing Executive

The value for marketing
Need to be able to understand how customers and channels differ so they can allocate resources effectively
Can use consumer data to understand where consumers learn about books and what motivates them to purchase
Can follow book consumer trends to take advantage of shifts in formats and price points
Can use consumer data to confirm that cover designs, price points, and formats fit a particular channel or reader

The value for sales
“In order for any set of data to be actionable, you have to have a realistic picture of who you’re selling to. You’ve got to track those groups. Our sales guys find it very actionable. You can sit down with Wal-Mart and say ‘Here’s what’s going on with your customers.’”
-Vice President, Sales

The value of for sales
Need the deepest understanding of who shops at the accounts they cover and how that fits with the books they are trying to sell
Can use consumer data to support the sales process and have more productive discussions with retail buyers by increasing their confidence that a book is a good match for their customers
Can use consumer data to make the most of both long term and seasonal trends
Can use consumer profiles to tailor product lines or special promotions to the consumers who shop at a particular account

“When it comes to groups of consumers at a particular account, we look at three points: traffic, spending, and frequency of purchase. If 2-3 of these are on an upward trend, then your business is humming. If 2-3 of these are on a downward trend, then your business is tanking.”

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Questions?

Thank you!
www.bookconsumer.com
PubTrackInfo@bowker.com
@bookbuyrinsight

AAP Consumer Data Presentation, April 7, 2011

by Bowker Market Research on Apr 07, 2011

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AAP Consumer Data Presentation, April 7, 2011 — Presentation Transcript