In the past year the sale of e-readers has skyrocketed making it one of the top consumer gadgets to own at this time. Many of the sales that helped to give these devices international attention came during the holiday season. The Publishers Association has collected some valuable data on the subject and how e-reader and e-reader related purchases compare to other popular consumer electronics like the iPad.
7% of adults in the UK are said to have received e-readers for the Christmas holiday. Of that number 84% have downloaded at least one ebook since then. Some of them would have paid for it but undoubtedly some people would have taken advantage of the free offers provided by vendors to lure in new owners. Compare this to the 54% that received a smart phone, iPad or e-reader for the same time period.
Buying Ebooks
Even though promotional ebooks are offered to customers you don’t always get offered what you really want. New e-reader owners were still more likely to purchase books that they wanted to read. Publishers Association tells us that amounts to 61%, compared to the 37% of people that received other devices.
Roughly 8% of the British population has downloaded paid for material since this past Christmas. This includes apps for mobile phones, the iPad as well as other devices but a large number of those purchases were ebooks.
The people that received dedicated e-readers as opposed to smart phones and tablet PCs bought more ebooks. It makes sense since book lovers are more inclined to buy or ask for a dedicated e-reader over a multifunction device like a tablet PC which is less suitable for long term reading.
Demographics
The stats show that men were twice as likely to have purchased ebooks over women. 12% of men have purchased ebooks since Christmas compared to 6% of women. It’s not that men read more than women but that more men received e-readers as a Christmas gift than women.
Consumer Preferences
The Kindle from Amazon won the popularity contest among e-reader owners. 24% of those downloading ebooks did so for their Kindle. Of that number 22% preferred it over other devices.
The ebook market, while incredibly popular is still pretty new to a lot of people. 73% of people questioned went on to say that they had never downloaded ebooks onto any device before getting their e-reader.
The Publishers Association shared this information with the public during their digital conference. The keynote was presented Chief Executive Richard Mollet. Mollet commented on the positive affect the holiday season has had on the sale of e-readers and ebooks. Many publishers are grabbing the opportunity to make a strong impression in this growing market. Mollet feels that publishers are in a strong position to put forth their own digital products and new ideas.
