BookNet Canada Announces New Initiative to Study Returns in the Canadian Book Market
TORONTO June 8, 2007 - Returns remain a constant challenge in the Canadian publishing industry as they allow retailers to take risks on books with uncertain demand even as they represent significant costs for publishers.
Although each publisher, distributor or retailer certainly has a very clear view of their own returns, there is currently no industry-wide overview on the size, scale or impact of returns on the Canadian book market and so no way to create large-scale, cost-saving initiatives.
In 2007-2008, BookNet Canada is undertaking a study to amalgamate industry knowledge of returns in the Canadian book market. BookNet’s goal is to understand the volume and profile of returns in Canada, the costs and benefits for the Canadian supply chain, and what major factors contribute to current returns levels. The study is aimed to identify ways of reducing returns levels without impacting the diverse mix of titles and authors currently available to Canadian readers.
BookNet’s investigations will begin with a survey of industry professionals, including publishers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors and others, to gauge current opinions surrounding returns. These findings will set the stage for a more in-depth analysis of costs, benefits, and volume drivers related to returns inside representative Canadian firms.
BookNet Canada will solicit the feedback of industry associations and other interested parties when determining the scope of the study. Involvement of individual companies will be critical to ensure the most accurate picture possible of returns in Canada.
For more information or to find out how you can be involved with the study, visit www.booknetcanada.ca.
And, coming soon: BookNet Canada’s reference guide to The Canadian Book Market 2006
Every week, BNC SalesData provides valuable insight into the Canadian book market. These statistics inform crucial business decisions and measure previously elusive return-on-investment figures of specific campaigns.
To celebrate BNC SalesData’s first full-year data set, we skipped the candles and got an ISBN instead. Introducing the book of Canadian books… BNC Research: The Canadian Book Market 2006. This is a comprehensive resource for all sales tracked by BNC SalesData in 2006 with high-level quantitative analysis in more than 50 categories to help you determine the market trends that drove book sales in 2006.
BookNet Canada will be releasing a sample section at the BEC Trade Show, so come by booth 924 to learn more.
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About BookNet Canada
BookNet Canada is the not-for-profit agency created by the Canadian book industry and the Department of Canadian Heritage to facilitate improvements in the book industry supply chain. It provides services and develops standards and certification in areas including electronic commerce via EDI (Electronic Document Interchange), bibliographic data, and analysis of point-of-sales and other supply chain data. BookNet acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for its initiatives.
