Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Try basing it on the indies' share:
In two years they went from 2.4 to 3.7%; that is a 54% boost in sales.
Indies are small, usually family-owned businesses: Any individual bookstore that gets 50% more sales in two years has to be feeling good. 
More realistically, the boost is lower because the number of indie stores has stopped declining and is instead growing slightly. On the other hand, the industry as a whole is still growing revenue so even a steady share means increased revenue. And since we're talking a roughly $7Billion business, that 1.3% increase works out to an extra $90M in sales. Hardly peanuts.
As we heard, last XMAS the ABA indies reported an average of 8% higher sales for the holidays. No mirage, that. And as B&N closes down more stores in their programmed down-sizing the opportunities for indies will grow. |
According to the report less than half of the indies surveyed responded and less than half of all indies are ABA members. So these and any reports are estimating indie sales and market share with less than 25% of actual available data. It's very possible the figures presented isn't entirely accurate especially when dealing with low numbers.
Also, Bowker's parent company owns a retail bookstore. Would Amazon and B&N tell a competitor actual sales figures? I'm thinking
a lot of estimation went into this report.