Book Retail Industry Report Final 2011

Transcription

The research was funded by the South African Booksellers Association
BOOK RETAIL INDUSTRY SURVEY
2011 REPORT
SEPTEMBER 2012
Willem Struik
Research analyst
Page |2
Contents
1
2
The survey
9
1.1
Historical background
9
1.2
Objective and scope of the survey
9
1.3
Industry segmentation
10
1.4
Data collection process
11
1.5
Assessment of the returns
11
1.6
Representative nature of the survey sample
12
1.6.1 Estimating the local book supply industry’s turnover values
13
1.6.2 Determining the local bookseller industry turnover values
15
1.6.3 Interpretation of survey representation of total industry
18
18
1.6.3.2 Religious trade sub-sector
18
1.6.3.3 Education sub-sector
18
1.6.3.4 Academic sub-sector
19
1.7
Participating booksellers
19
1.8
Data capturing process
20
1.9
Data analysis
20
1.10
Comparison with the 2008 and 2006 surveys
21
Participant profiles
22
2.1
22
Bookseller categories
2.2
Contribution of book sales to total product sales
23
2.3
Supplementary sales and marketing strategies
24
2.4
3
1.6.3.1 General trade sub-sector
Turnover profile of participating booksellers
24
Industry survey results
28
3.1 Total book turnover per industry sub-sector
28
3.2 Book retailing infrastructure per province
29
3.3 Consumer book sales per sub-sector and province
31
3.3.1
Trade books
31
3.3.2
Educational books
32
©SA Booksellers Association
Book Retail Industry Survey 2011 Report
Page |3
3.3.3
Academic books
32
3.4 Supplier profile
33
4
Library suppliers
34
5
Analysis per industry sub-sector
39
5.1
General trade books industry sub-sector
39
4.2
Religious trade books sub-sector
45
4.3
4.4
6
7
Education books sub-sector
Academic books sub-sector
48
52
Comparison between survey results
57
6.1 Participants common to the surveys
57
6.2 Context of the surveys
57
6.2.1 Industry context
57
6.2.2 Changes in the industry supply chain
58
6.2.3 External influences
60
6.2.4 Economic context
61
6.3 Representative nature of the comparative database
64
6.4 Comparative turnovers for 2011, 2008 and 2006
68
6.5 Contribution to sub-sector turnover by province
70
6.6 Number of retail outlets by province
72
Final remarks
75
Page |4
List of figures
1 Estimated turnovers of non-participant book suppliers
13
2 Total turnover of participant book suppliers
14
3 Estimated turnover of all local book suppliers
15
4 Publisher survey: Bookseller turnovers at wholesale values
16
5 Publisher survey: Bookseller turnovers at retail values
16
6 Publisher survey: Booksellers industry turnovers at retail values
17
7 Bookseller survey turnovers from locally sourced books
17
8 Bookseller survey representation of total industry turnover
18
Participant profiles
9 Participating booksellers
20
10 Bookseller categories and sub-sector focus
23
11 Books’ contribution to total product sales
23
12 Additional sales and marketing strategies applied
24
13 Number of booksellers in turnover bracket
24
14 Number of retail outlets per bookseller
25
15 Number of booksellers selling electronic books
25
16 Legal status of booksellers
25
17 Shareholding profile: All participant booksellers
26
18 Majority shareholding by population group
26
19 Majority shareholding by gender
27
20 Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) status
27
21 Total turnover profile
28
22 Turnover profile per customer category
29
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23 Number of outlets per province: All contact booksellers
29
24 Geographic distribution of sales: All contact booksellers
30
25 Geographic distribution of sales: Trade books
31
26 Geographic distribution of sales: Educational books
32
27 Geographic distribution of sales: Academic books
32
28 Source of product: All booksellers
33
Library suppliers
29 Industry sub-sector focus: Library suppliers
34
30 Turnover profile: Library suppliers
34
31 Legal status: Library suppliers
35
32 Sale of electronic books: Library suppliers
35
33 Marketing strategies: Library suppliers
35
34 Turnover profile by bookseller category: Library suppliers
36
35 Library supplier share of sub-sector turnover
36
36 Customer category profile by bookseller category
37
37 Library suppliers’ share of book retail industry library sales
37
38 Source of library supplies by industry sub-sector
38
General trade booksellers
39 Legal status: General trade booksellers
39
40 Ownership: General trade booksellers
39
41 Books’ contribution to total sales: General trade sub-sector
40
42 Supplementary marketing strategies: General trade sub-sector
40
43 Bookseller turnover brackets: General trade sub-sector
40
44 Number of outlets per bookseller: General trade sub-sector
42
45 Turnover profile: General trade booksellers
42
46 Customer profile: General trade booksellers
42
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47 Number of outlets per province: General trade booksellers
44
48 Geographic distribution of sales: General trade booksellers
44
49 Supply analysis: General trade books
44
Religious trade booksellers
50 Legal status: Religious trade booksellers
45
51 Shareholding: Religious trade booksellers
45
52 Number of outlets per bookseller: Religious trade booksellers
46
53 Books’ contribution to total turnover: Religious trade booksellers
46
54 Supplementary marketing strategies: Religious trade booksellers
46
55 Customer profile: Religious trade booksellers
47
56 Number of outlets per province: Religious trade booksellers
47
57 Geographic distribution of sales: Religious trade bookshops
48
58 Source of religious trade books
48
Educational Booksellers
59 Legal status: Educational booksellers
49
60 Ownership and shareholding profile: Educational booksellers
49
61 Books’ contribution to total sales: Educational booksellers
50
62 Number of outlets per bookseller: Education sub-sector
50
63 Annual book turnover profile: Education sub-sector
50
64 Turnover profile by sub-sector: Education booksellers
51
65 Customer profile: Educational booksellers
51
66 Geographic distribution of sales: Education booksellers
51
67 Supplier analysis: Educational booksellers
52
Academic Booksellers
68 Legal structure: Academic booksellers
52
69 Ownership and shareholding: Academic booksellers
53
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70 Books’ contribution to total sales: Academic booksellers
53
71 Supplementary marketing strategies: Academic booksellers
53
72 Annual book turnover profiles: Academic booksellers
54
73 Number of outlets per bookseller: Academic booksellers
54
74 Turnover profile by product category: Academic booksellers
54
75 Customer profile: Academic booksellers
55
76 Geographic distribution of sales: Academic booksellers
55
77 Supplier analysis: Academic books
56
Changes in industry supply chain
78 Publisher supply chain: All industry sub-sectors
58
79 Publisher supply chain: General trade sub-sector
59
80 Publisher supply chain: Religious trade sub-sector
59
81 Publisher supply chain: Education sub-sector
60
82 Publisher supply chain: Academic sub-sector
60
Economic Context
83 Gross domestic product: Year-on-year per capita growth rate
61
84 Retail sales annual growth rate
61
85 Consumer price index (CPI) and Producer price index (PPI)
62
86 Business and consumer confidence indices
63
87 S.A. Reserve Bank benchmark interest rate (repo rate)
63
88 Average annual currency exchange rates
63
89 Average annual currency exchange rates (inverted ratio’s)
64
90 Currency exchange rates indexed 2007 = 100
64
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Comparative database for 2011, 2008 and 2006
91 Grossed up direct import survey values to industry estimates
65
92 Bookseller industry values including direct imports
65
93 Industry representation including direct imported books
66
94 Comparison of industry, survey and comparative databases for 2011
66
66
66
97 Representation: Comparative databases to survey databases
67
98 Representation: Comparative databases to estimated industry totals
67
Lateral survey comparisons 2011, 2008 and 2006
99 Turnover profiles: Comparative trade and academic sub-sectors
68
100 Year-on-year change in turnover: Comparative booksellers
68
101 Customer profiles: Comparative booksellers
68
102 Year-on-year changes in turnover per customer category
69
103 Geographic distribution of sales: Both trade sub-sectors
70
104 Geographic distribution of sales: Academic sub-sector
70
105 Supplier analysis: All booksellers
71
106 Number of outlets per sub-sector by province
72
107 Average turnover per outlet: Trade booksellers 2008 and 2011
73
108 Year-on-year turnover change per province: Trade booksellers
73
109 Average turnover per outlet: Academic booksellers 2008 and 2011
74
110 Year-on-year turnover change: Academic booksellers 2008 and 2011
74
Page |9
1
The survey
1.1
Historical background
In 2003 the South African Booksellers Association (SABA) commissioned an
exploratory industry survey of the local book retail industry to be conducted parallel to
a similar survey conducted by the Publishers’ Association of South Africa (PASA).
For a number of reasons, the response to the SABA survey was poor and no
representative report could be issued.
However, the importance of statistical information on the book retail industry was
emphasised by numerous requests for information from local and international book
practitioners, from government and cultural organisations, and from international
book industry associations.
At the end of 2006 the executive committee of SABA decided to conduct another
survey of the local book retail industry reviewing the calendar year 2006 and
extended the scope of the survey to include all practising booksellers in the country,
irrespective of their membership of any trade organisation. The survey was done by
means of a standardised questionnaire. The response of the book retailers was
sufficiently representative of the industry to produce a report. This report was
released in May 2007. A similar survey was conducted for the 2008 calendar year.
At the beginning of 2012 the executive committee of SABA decided to conduct
another survey for the calendar year 2011 along the lines of the previous surveys so
that certain comparisons could be made.
1.2
Objective and scope of the survey
The objective of the survey was to provide a broad overview of the shape and the
size of the local book retail industry for the calendar year 2011.
The book retail industry is divided into four sub-sectors: general trade books,
religious trade books, school books and academic books.
For each of the four industry sub-sectors data was collected on the total sales of
each participant across all their product lines. Only retailers for whom books
contributed more than 10% to total sales were included in the survey, thus
eliminating general supermarkets, curio shops, pharmacies and a number of other
non-traditional book outlets from the target group.
Each participant was requested to provide annual net book turnover values,
excluding VAT, for a number of customer categories, which included direct consumer
sales (general public and academic students) and institutional sales (libraries,
academic institutions, schools, state and parastatal institutions and NGOs and other
to be specified). This information was based on the broad classification of customers
in the booksellers’ sales records.
Each participant was asked to provide, for each of the nine provinces, its number of
shops directly serving the public and the contribution each province made to national
book sales. No provincial sales data was collected from library suppliers and mail
order booksellers.
P a g e | 10
Supplier information was collected for each product category in terms of annual
purchases at cost price in terms of books sourced from local publishers and/or local
distributors of imported books and of direct imports from overseas publishers or
wholesalers.
Acknowledging that there will always be some degree of crossover sales between
the different product categories, with, for example, some educational books sold
through trade booksellers, annual book sales values based on title or supplier
information was collected for each of the four main product categories.
The last questions concerned the legal status of the enterprise, shareholding and
BBBEE status.
1.3
Industry Segmentation
Besides the standard segmentation into the four industry sub-sectors, viz. general
trade, religious trade, educational and academic, a further distinction was made
between different modes of bookselling. A distinction was made between contact
booksellers and library supply specialists. As only one mail order bookseller
participated in the survey, its data was added to that of the contact booksellers.
To identify all possible local book retailers, a number of local publishers with a
significant share in a specific sub-sector of the local market were asked to provide
the names and contact details of their book retail customers. The publishers
responded well to this request, and a comprehensive list of retail participants in each
sub-sector could be compiled. It became apparent that although most booksellers
focus on serving one of the four market sub-sectors almost to the exclusion of others,
there were a small number of booksellers who operated to some degree in two or
three of the market sub-sectors.
The following book retailers who are not members of SABA were invited to
participate in the survey. All SABA members were invited to participate.
General trade sub-sector
Airport Retail Concession
Diskonto Boeke
ebooks.etc
Estoril Books
Graffiti
Jasmyn
P.N.A.
The Book People
Titles
Travelling Bookshop
Ultimate Bookshop
Religious trade sub-sector
Christian Connection
Christian Book Discounters
CUM Books
Derek Prince Ministries
Gospel Direct
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Impact Christian Media
Mission Press
OM Books
Rivers Resource Centre
Shekina Woodlands
Academic Book Retailers
Academic Bookshop
Cape Hub Bookshop
Discount Textbooks
Fons Libris
I.H. Pentz Booksellers
Johannesburg Agencies
Knowledge Resources
Mindmatters Educational
Pharma Books
Picsie Books
Sherwood Books
TestKraft
Varsity Booksellers
VIB Bookshop
To ensure a representative sample of participants, a number of companies in each
bookseller category were identified whose participation was regarded as being highly
desirable to the survey (called the core list). The estimated market share of the 67
core listed booksellers in each industry sub-sector was in excess of 80%.
1.4
Data collection process
On 12 March 2012 a total number of 140 booksellers were contacted via e-mail with
a covering letter explaining the purpose of the survey, and the questionnaire
attached. The first deadline for returns was set at 31 May 2012. By the first deadline,
only three booksellers had responded. On 1 June a reminder was sent to all
booksellers on the initial distribution list, extending the deadline to 30 June. By the
second deadline, 15 booksellers had responded.
On 1 July a third letter was sent to the core list booksellers and the deadline
extended to 20 July. Outstanding core book retailers were reminded weekly by e-mail
to complete their questionnaires. The deadline was twice further extended to 31
August and outstanding core list booksellers contacted regularly. The SABA office
played an active role in persuading members to participate in the survey.
By the final deadline, a total of 57 returns had been received, of which 53 could be
used for the survey. Not participating was one of the larger national groups in the
general trade sub-sector and a further 21 core list members, mostly school book
retailers and distributors. After consultation with the SABA office, it was decided to
end the data collection process and start analysing the data received.
1.5
Assessment of the returns
A total of 57 returns were received. Four of these were too incomplete to be used in
the survey. The 53 returns used in the survey were from the categories tabled below.
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Number of
All
Core list
booksellers
booksellers
bookseller
General Trade
45
23
Religious Trade
11
Education
Contact
Library
retailer
Supplier
19
11
8
4
4
4
0
63
25
19
19
0
Academic
21
15
11
7
4
All sub-sectors
140
67
53
41
12
1.6
Participant
Two parallel industry surveys were conducted for 2011; one comprising of the book
retailers and the other the local book suppliers. The results of these two surveys
were cross-correlated to estimate the turnovers of those practitioners who did not
participate in the two surveys. When added to the survey results the total values of
each sub-sector of the two industries could be estimated to a reasonable degree of
accuracy.
Estimating the total annual turnover values for each industry sub-sector needed to
overcome two barriers:
1. Not all booksellers participated in the book retailer survey and not all
suppliers participated in the book publisher survey. Hence neither survey
totals reported the industry totals.
2. Booksellers purchased some of their books directly from overseas suppliers
(not covered by the publisher survey), and publishers distributed their
products to sales outlets other than booksellers (not covered by the retailer
survey).
Individual booksellers reported on their total turnovers distinguishing between two
possible sources of product (locally distributed or directly imported) and publishers
distinguished between two possible destinations for the product (home market or
export market).
Three independent sources of data were used to estimate the total turnover values of
each sub-sector of the industry;
1. The data collected by the two industry surveys;
2. Ranked lists of debtor and creditor account annual values supplied by leading
booksellers and publishers in each sub-sector
3. Detailed rankings of suppliers to the book retail industry contained in the
Nielsen BookScan SA 52 Week Standard Executive Report 2011.
Leading booksellers in each sub-sector supplied the research team with their 2011
creditor accounts in descending order of local purchase values. From these lists all
significant suppliers of product in each sub-sector could be identified and ranked in
order of annual net turnover. 59 of these suppliers participated in the publishing
industry survey, thus providing fixed points on these rankings and indicating
approximate annual turnovers with the book trade.
Leading publishers in each sub-sector supplied the research team with their 2011
debtor accounts again ranked in descending order of annual sales values. These
lists were used to identify all leading booksellers. As 53 booksellers participated in
P a g e | 13
the book retail industry survey, a number of absolute values could be attached to
these ranked positions.
Estimating the total industry turnover value of the local bookseller industry was done
in two phases; total industry turnover values of the local book supply industry (local
publishers and local distributors of imported books) were estimated per industry subsector. Local booksellers’ share of publishers’ distribution to the home market was
then applied to these estimates.
1.6.1 Estimating the local book supply industry’s total turnover values
The book publishing industry survey was used as the primary source for the
estimation of total industry value, as it was the more comprehensive survey with a
higher degree of industry participation in the survey across all the industry subsectors.
The Publishers’ Association of South Africa (PASA) membership list was augmented
with a number of suppliers in each industry sub-sector who were not PASA
members. This combined list was then compared with the list of survey participants
to identify those who did not participate in the survey, and possible turnover values
assigned to each.
Research based on the publishing activity profiles supplied in the 2011 edition of
Guide to Publishing in South Africa and some basic Internet research was used to
allocate a primary publishing locus area to each of these non-participant suppliers.
Note that the total number of practitioners indicated in the tables below is greater
than the actual number of practitioners as some of them were active in more than
one industry sub-sector or market niche.
Altogether 207 practitioners were identified: The 59 participants to the survey and
148 other local book suppliers identified from the bookseller creditor accounts. Of
these 6 general trade suppliers focused exclusively on the import market, as did 2
academic suppliers.
Figure 1: Estimated turnover of non-participant book suppliers:
Non-participating
local suppliers
Number
Estimated annual net turnover
Local
Import
Local
Imported
All products
General trade
10
6
R 65,000,000
R 61,000,000
R 126,000,000
Religious trade
6
0
R 10,000,000
Trade sub-sector
16
6
R 75,000,000
School books
110
R 141,000,000
R 141,000,000
FET textbooks
18
R 5,000,000
R 5,000,000
ABET Workbooks
11
R 1,000,000
R 1,000,000
Education sub-sector
139
0
R 147,000,000
R 147,000,000
Academic textbooks
12
2
R 18,000,000
R 10,000,000
R 61,000,000
R 11,000,000
Professional books
R 136,000,000
R 29,000,000
R0
Scholarly books
4
Academic sub-sector
16
2
R 18,000,000
R 3,000,000
R 3,000,000
R 14,000,000
R 32,000,000
P a g e | 14
All sub-sectors
1.
2.
171
8
R 240,000,000
R 75,000,000
R 316,000,000
From the PASA membership list, the creditor data supplied by booksellers and
the Nielsen BookScan SA 52 Week Standard Executive Report 2011 171 local
publishers and 8 distributors of imported books were identified who did not
participate in the book publishing industry survey.
By applying the rankings supplied by the booksellers and extrapolating the
Nielsen BookScan turnover data these non-participating locally based book
suppliers were estimated to have a total annual turnover at publisher net invoice
value of R316,000,000 of which R240,500,000 was generated by locally
published books and R75,500,000 imported books.
Figure 2: Total turnover of participant book suppliers:
Survey
Number
Annual net turnover
participants
Local
Import
General trade
11
6
R 337,874,000
R 465,826,000
R 803,700,000
Religious trade
6
6
R 144,678,000
R 81,234,000
R 225,912,000
Trade sub-sector
17
12
R 482,552,000
R 547,060,000
R 1,029,612,000
School books
21
1
R 1,435,766,000
R 182,168,000
R 1,617,934,000
FET textbooks
6
1
R 128,755,000
R 1,056,000
R 129,811,000
ABET Workbooks
6
0
R 7,483,000
R0
R 7,483,000
33
2
R 1,572,004,000
R 183,224,000
R 1,755,228,000
Academic textbooks
6
3
R 262,046,000
R 32,272,000
R 294,318,000
Professional books
2
5
R 219,841,000
R 22,924,000
R 242,765,000
Scholarly books
4
3
R 4,113,000
R 10,442,000
R 14,555,000
Academic sub-sector
12
11
R 486,000,000
R 65,638,000
R 551,638,000
All sub-sectors
62
25
R 2,540,556,000
R 795,922,000
R 3,336,478,000
1.
2.
Local
Imported
All products
The book publisher survey recorded the turnover values at net publisher invoice
value of R3,336,478,000 of which R2,540,556,000 was generated by locally
published books and R796,922,000 by imported books supplied by locally based
distributors.
Although only 59 companies participated in the survey, some of them
participated both as local publishers and as local distributors of imported books,
and were counted in each category.
P a g e | 15
Figure 3: Estimated turnover of all local book suppliers:
Industry estimate
Number
Estimated annual net turnover
of total turnover
Local
Import
General trade
21
12
R 403,000,000
R 527,000,000
R 930,000,000
Religious trade
12
6
R 155,000,000
R 81,000,000
R 236,000,000
Trade sub-sector
33
18
R 558,000,000
R 608,000,000
R 1,166,000,000
School books
131
1
R 1,577,000,000
R 182,000,000
R 1,759,000,000
FET textbooks
24
1
R 134,000,000
R 1,000,000
R 135,000,000
ABET Workbooks
17
0
R 8,000,000
R0
R 8,000,000
172
2
R 1,719,000,000
R 183,000,000
R 1,902,000,000
Undergraduate textbooks
18
5
R 280,000,000
R 43,000,000
R 323,000,000
Professional books
2
5
R 220,000,000
R 23,000,000
R 243,000,000
Scholarly books
8
3
R 4,000,000
R 13,000,000
R 17,000,000
Academic sub-sector
28
13
R 504,000,000
R 79,638,000
R 583,638,000
All sub-sectors
233
33
R 2,781,000,000
R 871,000,000
R 3,652,000,000
1.
2.
Local
Imported
All products
Adding together the data collected from the participants and the estimated
turnovers from those who did not participate in the survey, estimates were made
of the total industry turnover values in each of the industry sub-sectors.
The estimated turnover values of all locally supplied books amounted to
R3,652,000,000 of which R2,781,000,000 was generated by the sale of locally
published books.
1.6.2 Determining the local bookseller industry total turnover values
Converting the supplier industry total turnover estimate to that of the local bookseller
industry involves four steps;
Adjusting the book supplier industry values by:
1. Applying the supplier industry survey turnovers at wholesale value to an
equivalent value for the local bookseller industry by eliminating export sales.
2. Converting wholesale values to a retail values by adding back the average
bookseller trade discounts received in each sub-sector.
3. Converting the survey totals to industry total estimates by grossing up with
the survey participating rate as established by the supplier’s survey report.
Adjusting the bookseller industry survey values by;
4. Deducting the turnover bookseller turnover values due to the direct
importation of books from overseas suppliers, as these had not been
recorded by the publishers’ survey.
Finally the two turnover estimates were related to each other to determine the degree
to which the bookseller survey represented the estimated total bookseller industry
turnover values.
P a g e | 16
Figure 4: Publisher survey: Bookseller turnover at wholesaler values
Publisher survey turnover Publisher survey
Bookseller
Survey bookAll contact booksellers
total net turnover
market share
seller turnover
General trade books
R 803,700,000
73.3%
R 594,184,000
Religious trade books
R 225,912,000
86.7%
R 179,857,000
R 1,755,227,000
24.3%
R 395,392,000
Academic books
R 551,637,000
94.5%
R 283,768,000
Total book sales
R 3,336,476,000
Educational books
1.
2.
3.
R 1,453,201,000
The book publishers’ survey established the percentage of the publisher’s output
distributed through the local bookseller industry. This percentage is applied to
determine the bookseller industry’s turnover in terms of publisher survey net
invoice value.
The bookseller industry accounted for 73.3%, 86.7%, 24.3% and 94.5%
respectively of the publisher survey turnovers in the general trade, religious
trade, education and academic industry sub-sectors.
Of the R3,336,476,000 industry turnover at wholesale process values recorded
by local book distributors, local booksellers distributed R1,453,201,000.
Figure 5: Publisher survey: Bookseller turnover at retail values
Publisher survey turnovers
Bookseller
Bookseller
Bookseller
All contact booksellers
Net turnover
discount
Gross turnover
General trade books
R 594,184,000
44.6%
R 1,072,933,000
R 179,857,000
40.1%
R 300,290,000
Educational books
R 395,392,000
30.1%
R 565,929,000
Academic books
R 283,768,000
34.4%
R 432,247,000
Total book sales
R 1,453,201,000
1.
2.
3.
R 2,371,399,000
The bookseller turnover values determined in the previous table were converted
to retail values by adding back the average trade discounts received by
booksellers.
Only turnovers recorded in the publishers’ survey have been taken into account
at this stage.
The publisher wholesale turnover value of R1, 453,201,000 translates to
bookseller retail value of R2,371,399,000.
P a g e | 17
Figure 6: Publisher survey: Bookseller industry turnover at retail values:
Supply industry turnovers
Publisher survey
Publisher survey
Industry
gross turnover
representation
gross turnover
R 1,072,933,000
86.4%
R 1,241,821,000
R 300,290,000
95.8%
R 313,455,000
Educational books
R 565,929,000
92.2%
R 613,806,000
Academic books
R 432,247,000
94.4%
R 457,889,000
Total book sales
R 2,371,399,000
General trade books
1.
2.
3.
4.
R 2,626,971,000
The publisher industry survey captured turnover data in the general trade subsector was estimated to represent 86.4% of the total industry turnover. Applying
this ratio to the bookseller turnover at retail value estimates the booksellers’ total
industry turnover to be R1,241,821,000 per annum.
The publisher industry survey captured turnover data in the religious trade subsector was estimated to represent 95.8% of the total industry turnover. Applying
this ratio to the bookseller turnover at retail value estimates the booksellers’ total
industry turnover to be R313,455,000 per annum.
The publisher industry survey captured turnover data in the education sub-sector
was estimated to represent 92.2% of the total industry turnover. Applying this
ratio to the bookseller turnover at retail value estimates the booksellers’ total
The publisher industry survey captured turnover data in the academic sub-sector
was estimated to represent 94.4% of the total industry turnover. Applying this
ratio to the bookseller turnover at retail value estimates the booksellers’ total
Figure 7: Bookseller survey turnover from locally sourced books
Turnover at retail prices
Total net
Direct import
Total local
turnover
turnover
Turnover
R 1,116,973,000
10.8%
R 996,340,000
R 242,525,000
5.1%
R 230,156,000
Educational books
R 228,568,000
8.3%
R 209,597,000
Academic books
R 647,596,000
39.1%
R 394,386,000
Total book sales
R 2,235,661,000
General trade books
1.
2.
3.
R 1,830,479,000
The bookseller survey recorded the purchases local booksellers made directly
from overseas suppliers. As these values were not recorded in the publishers’
survey, they were subtracted in order to do a like-for-like comparison.
The booksellers’ survey recorded that local general trade booksellers purchased
10.8% of they total purchases directly from abroad. The total general trade
turnover recorded in the bookseller survey was hence reduced by 10.8% to
R996,340,000 representing the turnover value of locally resourced books.
Similar calculations for the other three sub-sectors indicates that across all subsectors books to the retail value of R405,182,000 [R2,235,661,000 –
R1,830,479,000] were purchased directly from overseas suppliers.
P a g e | 18
Figure 8: Bookseller survey representation of total industry turnover
Survey turnover as
Industry turnover Survey turnover
Survey %
% of industry turnover
at retail prices
at retail prices
Representation
General trade books
R 1,241,821,000
R 996,340,000
80.2%
R 313,455,000
R 230,156,000
73.4%
Educational books
R 613,806,000
R 209,597,000
34.1%
Academic books
R 457,889,000
R 394,386,000
86.1%
Total book sales
R 2,626,971,000
R 1,830,479,000
69.7%
Having expressed the turnovers of both industry surveys in terms of home market
sales and home market purchases at a common retail price value, the adjusted
turnover values are related to determine the percentage the bookseller survey
represented the estimated total bookseller industry in terms of turnover.
1.6.3 Interpretation of survey representation of total industry
1.6.3.1 General trade sub-sector
The bookseller survey recorded approximately 80.2% of all industry turnover in this
industry sub-sector.
One of the major general trade national bookseller chains did not participate in the
survey. A fairly large mail order bookseller did not participate, nor did three prominent
library suppliers focussing on the general trade sub-sector. A number of the smaller
independent general trade contact booksellers, many located in the larger towns,
also did not participate in the survey. Combined these booksellers accounted for the
almost 20% of the estimated industry turnover not represented in the survey.
1.6.3.2 Religious trade sub-sector
All the national religious trade bookseller groups participated in the survey. However,
none of the almost 250 independent bookshops attached to the larger congregations
responded to the invitation to participate in the survey. Some of the larger of these
outlets are known to have quite substantial turnovers and their combined turnover
would account for a large proportion of the 26.6% not covered by the survey. The
general trade bookseller chain not participating is known to contribute substantially to
the sale of religious books.
1.6.3.3 Education sub-sector
Only 19 of the 63 SABA members identified as school book retailers participated in
the survey, of which 12 were schoolbook distributors not holding stock on a yearround basis and merely fulfilling orders on an order-to-order basis. In addition two
national academic booksellers also participated in the school book industry, and
together account for nearly 10% of all bookseller sales recorded by educational
P a g e | 19
publishers. Some of the general trade booksellers sell school dictionaries and
learning and examination aids to the general public.
The active debtor account lists supplied by leading educational publishers indicated
sales to an additional 350 booksellers or distributors who are not members of SABA.
Some of these outlets accounted for a few million rand of turnover each, although
most contributed less than 0.1% of total publisher revenue. Nearly all of these
outlets sold a number of other product lines besides books, and their business
information systems could not extract the data required by the survey.
The fragmented state of the schoolbook supply chain accounted for the low survey
participation rate in the education sub-sector.
1.6.3.4 Academic sub-sector
Professional books make up nearly 45% of the turnover of the academic book subsector, but more than 95% of these are sold directly by publishers to end-users such
as law and accounting firms and government departments. For this reason these
books have not been included in the supplier survey data on which the bookseller
participation rates were based.
All the major academic contact booksellers participated in the survey and a number
of the leading local library suppliers also reported their sales values.
Some of the 13.9% estimated industry turnover not represented in the survey results
relate to the professional books sold via booksellers as undergraduate textbooks. A
number of the smaller academic contact booksellers and library suppliers also did not
participate in the survey.
1.7
Participating booksellers
The following booksellers participated in the survey. They are listed in alphabetical
order.
P a g e | 20
Figure 9: Participating booksellers:
Adams
Early Readers
New Edition Booksellers
Addis Stationers
Eastern Cape School Supplies
P.N.A.
African Book Connection
Everybody's Books
Pickwick Books
Afro Book Supplies
Exclusive Books
Pillow Books
Airport Retail Concession
Fons Libris
Praesidium Books
Bargain Books
Gospel Direct
Pro Visions Books
Book Express
Hadeda
Protea Boekhuis
Books 24/7
Hargraves Library Supplies
Red Ochre Books
Books and Books
Horizon Library Services
Red Pepper Books
Booktalk
Ilisi Trading
Rynew Booksellers
Bookworld
Juta
Sky
Suppliers
BT Boeke
Keletso Books
Spectra Upfront
BTC Office National
Kumbi Books
Tabankulu Bookshop
Christian Connection
L.J. Armstrong Booksellers
Taberna
Complete Bookshop
Langa Spar
The Book Lounge
Cornea Boeke
Leserskring
Van Schaik Booksellers
CUM Boeke
M G Redhi
Wordsworth
Derek Prince Ministries
Nazipazi Booksellers
1.8
Information
Data capturing process
The data collected from the questionnaires returned were captured in Excel. Several
security measures ensured the confidentiality of the information, both in paper and
electronic format.
In order to protect the confidentiality of the information supplied by individual
participants, it was decided not to report separately on any product sub-sector or
bookseller category if fewer than four participants reported within that category of
retailers.
Booksellers were asked to distinguish between locally sourced books and directly
imported books. Actual purchase values are not provided in this report, but the
percentages of total purchases for each of these supplier categories are supplied per
Because some of the participants were franchisors with no access to employment
data of individual shops, and other participants were part of large corporations
employing staff over a range of product lines, no data was collected on employment
profiles, remuneration values and expenditure on training in the book sector.
1.9
Data analysis
Data from the 53 questionnaires were analysed in order to construct a number of
generic profiles of the South African general trade, religious trade, education and
academic book retail industry sub-sectors.
Most of the booksellers reported sales volumes in more than one of the industry subsectors. The data collected by the questionnaire confirmed the moderate degree of
P a g e | 21
crossover sales, with trade booksellers selling educational books and academic
booksellers selling trade books, etc.
For this reason the data was analysed at two levels: firstly at product level where the
data was analysed according to product category; and secondly per bookseller subsector, where booksellers were grouped together in terms of the major focus of their
business. Booksellers were deemed to fall into any one of the four industry subsectors if 60 per cent or more of their total book sales were derived from that
category.
Several security and quality control measures ensured the confidentiality and
integrity of the information transfer process. The analysis, however, rests on the
assumed accuracy of the data received from the individual participating companies.
1.10 Comparison with the 2008 and 2006 surveys
Of the 29 participants in the 2008 survey, all but three participated in the 2011
survey. Only 15 participants participated in all three surveys done to date.
Comparisons with the results of previous surveys is done at the end of this report.
P a g e | 22
2 Participant profiles
2.1 Bookseller categories
Participants were asked to indicate their main business focus in terms of the intended
readership of the products they sold, the bookselling strategy they applied, and the
contribution book sales made to their total annual sales by value.
Four main industry sub-sectors were identified according to the intended readership
of the products they sold:
1. General trade books, comprising of adult and children’s fiction and non-fiction
books.
2. Religious trade books, intended for the general public, including adult and
children’s fiction and non-fiction, bibles, hymnals etc, but excluding
theological books used for formal tertiary level education.
3. Educational books, comprising mostly of school books used at primary and
secondary education institutions, as well as school dictionaries, learning and
examination aids and textbooks used at colleges for Further Education and
Training (FET).
4. Academic books, which consist mostly of undergraduate textbooks but also
some professional books designed as references for the legal and accounting
professions, but sometimes used at university level for training in these
professions.
Four main bookselling strategies were identified;
1. Contact bookselling, where the bookseller and the individual book buyer
make contact on the retailer’s premises,
2. mail-order and book club bookselling,
3. internet bookselling,
4. library and institutional suppliers.
The first three strategies are consumer sales strategies with individuals as end-users.
Booksellers in the fourth classification are deemed to be business-to-business
booksellers.
The above distinctions made eight combinations possible:
General trade contact bookseller
Religious trade contact bookseller
Academic contact bookseller
Educational stockholding book retailer
Educational book distributor (order-to-order bookseller)
Internet bookseller
Library supplier
Book club and mail-order bookseller
The survey returns were analysed in order to classify the participants in each of
these categories. If 60 per cent or more of sales originated from a specific industry
sub-sector, the bookseller was deemed to specialise in that sub-sector; if 75 per cent
of sales were generated using a particular sales strategy, the bookseller was
allocated to that retailer category.
P a g e | 23
Figure 10: Bookseller categories and sub-sector focus:
General
Religious
Education
Bookseller
Trade
Trade
Classification
Contact retailer
Internet retailer
Mail order Bookseller
Library supplier
Schoolbook distributor
Total
1.
10
0
1
8
0
19
4
0
0
0
0
4
Academic
Total
7
0
0
4
0
11
28
0
1
12
12
53
7
0
0
0
12
19
Most booksellers have a very clearly defined focus in terms of the industry subsector in which they operate and the sales strategies they apply. Some of the
smaller contact booksellers serving rural areas operated in more than one
industry sub-sector. Only library suppliers reported significant sales in more than
one industry sub-sector.
None of the participants recorded significant use of more than one sales
strategy. Most contact booksellers indicated some internet selling, but the
contribution to total sales was small.
Religious trade booksellers were the most narrowly focussed on their sub-sector,
recording 100% of total sales in that sub-sector.
Academic booksellers reported a strong focus on academic books, with both
general trade and academic books as secondary focus areas.
2.
3.
4.
2.2
Contribution of book sales to total product sales
Booksellers were asked to indicate the contribution new books made to total product
sales. Second hand book sales were recorded under “other product“.
Figure 11: Books’ contribution to total product sales:
Books’ contribution
General
Religious
Education
to product sales
Academic
Library
trade
trade
Book sales value
R 1,121,465,000
R 204,312,000
R 134,766,000
R 668,414,000
R 106,705,000
Total product sales
R 1,425,144,000
R 393,394,000
R 226,135,000
R 768,501,000
R 106,705,000
Average book sales
78.7%
51.9%
59.6%
87.0%
100.0%
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
suppliers
Few contact booksellers sold books only.
Most general trade booksellers recorded magazine and stationery sales making
significant contributions to total product sales. Others sold music CD’s and
DVD’s as well.
Religious trade booksellers relied on music CD’s and DVD’s for a significant
contribution to total group sales.
Education booksellers sold mainly scholastic stationary in addition to books.
Some academic booksellers sold second hand books as well as new books.
Others sold art materials and computer accessories and stationary depending on
the type of academic institutions they serve.
Library suppliers sold new books only.
P a g e | 24
2.3
Supplementary sales and marketing strategies
Participants were asked to indicate which alternative sales and marketing strategies
they used besides their main sales strategies of customer contact sales and/or library
supplies.
Figure 12: Additional sales and marketing strategies applied:
Supplementary sales
General
Religious
EduAcaStrategies
Library
trade
trade
cation
demic
suppliers
Website sales
4
2
0
6
2
Telesales
0
0
0
3
0
Off-site sales
4
1
0
4
1
Party-plan sales
5
0
1
3
0
1.
2.
3.
4.
By telephonic sales is meant the facility to place orders at dedicated call centres.
By off-site sales is meant temporary contact sales facilities such as “courtyard”
sales in shopping centres, sales stands at trade fairs, exhibitions, congresses
etc. and author events.
Sales visits to the premises of end-users included “party-plan” sales, visits to
schools and PTA meetings etc.
All booksellers reported at least one additional sales strategy besides their main
strategy. The most common strategy was website sales followed by off-site
sales and telesales.
2.4 Turnover profile of participating booksellers
This section summarizes the profiles of participating booksellers in a number of
different ways.
Figure 13: Number of booksellers in turnover bracket:
Annual book turnover profile
Number of
All booksellers
booksellers
Less than R5 million
23
R5 million to R10 million
10
5
7
4
More than R100 million
4
Survey sample
53
Most participating booksellers had annual book turnovers of less than R10 million,
whilst only four recorded annual turnovers of more than R100 million.
P a g e | 25
Figure 14: Number of retail outlets per bookseller:
Number of contact sales outlets in bookseller group
Number of
booksellers
1
25
2–5
4
6 – 10
4
11 – 20
1
More than 20
6
Sample size
40
Most contact booksellers were single outlet enterprises, with only six having more
than 20 outlets per bookseller group.
Figure 15: Number of booksellers selling electronic books:
Sale of electronic books
All booksellers
Trade books
5
Educational books
3
Academic books
3
Of the 53 participating booksellers, only 11 reported some activity in the sale of
electronic books.
Figure 16: Legal status of booksellers:
Legal status
All booksellers
Number of
Booksellers
For-profit organization
52
Sole proprietor
4
Closed corporation
31
Partnership
0
Private company
12
Public company
5
Non-profit organization
1
Public benefit organization
1
1.
2.
3.
As most of the smaller and independently owned booksellers did not participate
in the survey, the above profile is not representative of the book retail industry.
All but one of the participating booksellers were for-profit organizations.
A closed corporation was the preferred legal status of the smaller booksellers.
P a g e | 26
Figure 17: Shareholding profile: All participant booksellers:
Shareholding
All booksellers
Number of
booksellers
% Foreign
1
% Local
52
% Local corporate ownership
7
% Local private ownership
46
1.
2.
3.
The survey reflects the status of 53 booksellers out of more than 140 recorded in
the membership lists of trade associations. Most of the booksellers who did not
respond were smaller independent educational and religious booksellers.
Eight participants, including the six largest booksellers, were subsidiaries of
larger enterprises.
All but one participant were locally owned, and 46 were privately owned.
Figure 18: Majority shareholding by population group:
Private shareholding profile
Population group
All
booksellers
100% Black
17
80%- 99% Black
0
51% - 79% Black
3
50% Black
0
25% - 49% Black
2
1 - 24% Black
0
0% Black
24
Individual shareholding
46
1.
2.
Of the 46 privately owned booksellers, 17 were wholly black owned and 24
wholly white owned.
Most of the booksellers not participating in the survey were sole-proprietor
educational booksellers (44, mostly black owned) or general or religious trade
booksellers (33, mostly white owned) so that the profile above is not an accurate
reflection of private shareholding in the industry.
P a g e | 27
Figure 19: Majority shareholding by gender:
Private shareholding profile
Gender
All
booksellers
100% Male
16
80%- 99% Male
1
51% - 79% Male
4
50% Male
7
25% - 49% Male
2
1 - 24% Male
1
0% Male
15
Individual shareholding
46
1.
2.
3.
31 of the 46 participating privately owned booksellers were owned by sole
proprietors.
Most of the 7 with a 50:50 gender shareholding were married couples or life
partners.
Bookselling is often a family business and the shareholding profile above may
not be representative of the industry.
Figure 20: Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) status:
BBEEE rating
Number of
All booksellers
Booksellers
Exempted
23
Not rated
6
BBEEE rated
24
Level 1
3
Level 2
0
Level 3
9
Level 4
10
Level 5
1
Level 6
1
1.
2.
3.
A number of participants reported that although their holding companies had
been BBBEE rated, the book retail subsidiaries had not been rated separately.
Such cases are reported as not having been rated.
Almost all the smaller booksellers were exempted from obtaining an official
rating as their annual turnover was below the minimum required for such rating.
Library suppliers were nearly all rated as they trade with government
departments through a tender or approved supplier system which requires rating.
P a g e | 28
3
All turnovers reported in this survey are expressed as net and exclusive of VAT.
Net turnover implies sales values after customer credits granted for returns and
customer discounts.
All turnover values are at bookseller net invoice values, unless stated otherwise.
Most consumer sales are transacted at the retailer’s listed retail price, which in most
cases correspond closely to the supplier’s recommended retail price.
Institutional sales almost invariably are transacted at a discount on the listed price
depending on the type of product, the category of customer, the value or volume of
the transaction and other terms and conditions negotiated between bookseller and
customer.
3.1 Total book turnover per industry sub-sector
Figure 21: Total turnover profile:
Turnover profile
Total net
% of total
turnover
turnover
R 1,116,973,000
50.0%
R 242,525,000
10.8%
Educational books
R 228,568,000
10.2%
Academic books
R 647,596,000
29.0%
Total book sales
R 2,235,661,000
100.0%
All booksellers
General trade books
1.
2.
The booksellers which participated in the survey were mainly from the trade subsector of the industry: 50.0% of all recorded turnover was generated by general
trade books, 10.8% by religious trade books, 10.2% by educational books and
29.0% by academic books.
The sale of religious trade books within the survey sample is under-reported, as
only one of the general trade bookseller national chains reported its sales of
religious books separately from general trade sales. The Nielsen Bookscan SA
52 Week Standard Executive Report 2011 indicated that religious books
constituted 9.6% of the total trade books sales of all general trade booksellers. If
this contribution were applied to the survey data it would indicate an overreporting of R 60 million in general trade book turnover and an under-reporting of
R 60 million in religious trade book turnover through general trade outlets.
However, the values reported by the survey were used for all further analyses.
P a g e | 29
Figure 22: Turnover profile per customer category:
Customer profile
Total net
% of total
turnover
turnover
R 1,356,840,000
60.7%
R 559,461,000
25.0%
Libraries
R 85,821,000
3.8%
Academic institutions
R 55,764,000
2.5%
R 156,582,000
7.0%
R 21,119,000
0.9%
All booksellers
Individual consumer
General public
Academic students
Institutional sales
Schools
Government and NGO's
Total book sales
1.
2.
R 2,235,662,000
100.0%
The consumer market comprising of the general public and students account for
85.7% of sales. Institutional sales accounted for the balance of 14.3%
Participating booksellers recorded a turnover of R 156,582,000 or 7.0% of total
recorded sales to schools, 3.8% to public libraries, 2,5% to teaching institutions
and 0.9% to government departments, business corporations and NGO’s.
3.2 Book retailing infrastructure per province
Figure 23: Number of outlets per province: All contact booksellers:
Number of outlets per province
All
% of total
booksellers
turnover
Western Cape
99
27.3%
Eastern Cape
40
11.0%
KwaZulu-Natal
41
11.3%
Northern Cape
4
1.1%
Free State
14
3.9%
North West
10
2.8%
Gauteng
129
35.5%
Mpumalanga
13
3.6%
Limpopo
13
3.6%
Total
363
100.0%
1.
2.
3.
The three main metropolitan areas, the Witwatersrand, Cape Peninsula and
Durban-Pietermaritzburg areas, were best covered by contact booksellers. The
national chains covered some of the larger towns, but the smaller towns and
rural areas were sparsely covered.
Between them, Gauteng and the Western Cape had more than half of all
bookshops in the country (326 out of 518), followed by KwaZulu-Natal.
The least developed in terms of book retailing infrastructure were North West
Province, the Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape.
P a g e | 30
Figure 24: Geographic distribution of sales: All contact booksellers:
Geographic distribution of sales
All
All sub-sector contact sales
booksellers
% of total
Turnover
Western Cape
R 455,187,000
23.4%
Eastern Cape
R 189,671,000
9.7%
KwaZulu-Natal
R 244,568,000
12.6%
Northern Cape
R 11,471,000
0.6%
Free State
R 67,444,000
3.5%
North West
R 56,425,000
2.9%
R 840,381,000
43.2%
Mpumalanga
R 40,622,000
2.1%
Limpopo
R 42,373,000
2.2%
Gauteng
Total
1.
2.
R 1,946,042,000
100.0%
Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal together account for 79.2% of
all recorded contact consumer sales.
Although the contribution made by the smaller provinces is low, it is higher than
that recorded in the previous two surveys. This is largely due to new academic
bookshops having opened in these provinces.
P a g e | 31
3.3
Consumer book sales per sub-sector and province
Consumer sales exclude all institutional sales to schools, libraries, etc. Because the
domicile of consumers who bought books via mail order could not be established the
tables below exclude such sales.
3.3.1 Trade books
Because only three religious trade booksellers operate countrywide, the recorded
turnovers of all religious booksellers have been added to that of the general trade
booksellers in order to protect the confidentiality of their turnover data.
Figure 25: Geographic distribution of sales: Trade books:
All
General and religious trade books
booksellers
% of total
turnover
Western Cape
R 351,511,000
28.1%
Eastern Cape
R 63,761,000
5.1%
Kwa-Zulu Natal
R 156,921,000
12.6%
Northern Cape
R 9,033,000
0.7%
Free State
R 38,772,000
3.1%
North West
R 18,371,000
1.5%
R 564,606,000
45.2%
Mpumalanga
R 31,332,000
2.5%
Limpopo
R 15,078,000
1.2%
Gauteng
Total
1.
2.
R 1,249,383,000
100.0%
Gauteng contributed 45.2% of all consumer sales of trade books recorded
nationwide, followed by the Western Cape with 28.1%.
Including KwaZulu-Natal, the three largest provinces in terms of turnover
accounted for 85.9% of all recorded consumer sales of trade books.
P a g e | 32
3.3.2 Educational books
Figure 26: Geographic distribution of sales: Educational books:
All
Educational books
Booksellers
% of total
Turnover
Western Cape
R 10,121,000
7.2%
Eastern Cape
R 94,373,000
67.4%
KwaZulu-Natal
R 8,538,000
6.1%
Northern Cape
R 64,000
0.0%
Free State
R 2,210,000
1.6%
North West
R 1,643,000
1.2%
R 20,412,000
14.6%
Mpumalanga
R 1,644,000
1.2%
Limpopo
R 3,034,000
2.2%
Gauteng
Total
R 139,939,000
100.0%
Because such a small percentage of educational booksellers participated in the
survey, no conclusions can be drawn from these values.
3.3.3 Academic books
Figure 27: Geographic distribution of sales: Academic books:
All
Academic books
booksellers
% of total
turnover
Western Cape
R 93,556,000
16.8%
Eastern Cape
R 31,536,000
5.7%
KwaZulu-Natal
R 79,109,000
14.2%
Northern Cape
R 2,374,000
0.4%
Free State
R 26,462,000
4.8%
North West
R 36,411,000
6.5%
R 255,363,000
45.9%
R 7,645,000
1.4%
R 24,263,000
4.4%
R 556,719,000
100.0%
Gauteng
Mpumalanga
Limpopo
Total
1.
2.
The academic book market is dominated by Gauteng, which accounts for more
than 45% of all recorded sales.
The top three provinces, Gauteng, Western Province and KwaZulu-Natal,
accounted for 76.9% of recorded sales.
P a g e | 33
3.4
Supplier profile
Booksellers reported the source of their purchases: These were either locally
published books or imported books supplied by locally based suppliers, or books
imported directly from overseas sources, such as publishers, wholesalers or order
consolidators. The first category of supplies would have been transacted in rand,
whereas the direct imports were transacted in foreign currencies.
Figure 28: Source of product: All booksellers:
Supplier analysis
% of book purchases by net purchase value
All
booksellers
Trade books
Locally supplied
89.2%
Directly imported
10.8%
Educational books
Locally supplied
91.7%
Directly imported
8.3%
Academic books
Locally supplied
60.9%
Directly imported
39.1%
All books
Locally supplied
75.9%
Directly imported
24.1%
1.
2.
Across all four sub-sectors of the industry, 75.9% by value of books was sourced
from locally based publishers and/or distributors for imported products; 24.1%
was imported directly from abroad, either via locally based indent agents,
overseas book distributors or overseas publishers.
Academic undergraduate textbooks accounted for the largest proportion of direct
imports (39.1% of all purchases), with educational books recording only 8.3%
sourced overseas.
P a g e | 34
4 Library suppliers
Whereas 29 of the 53 participants reported sales to public, academic and educational
libraries, 12 were dedicated library suppliers serving the library market almost
exclusively. Their business profiles are distinctly different from that of contact
booksellers.
The initial survey of the local book retail trade identified 15 entities which focussed
primarily on serving the needs of libraries. All 15 were added to the core list of
significant contributors, and 12 participated in the survey. From information obtained
from external sources the market share of the three library suppliers not participating
in the survey was estimated to be just less than 10%. Hence the survey sample
represents just over 90% of the library supplies from local booksellers.
A number of specialist library suppliers based in the United Kingdom, Europe and the
USA supply the academic library market directly from abroad. Neither the value of
these sales nor their share of total academic library purchases could be established,
but is generally regarded as exceeding that of local suppliers.
Figure 29: Industry sub-sector focus: Library suppliers:
Primary sub-sector
All
Contact
Library
booksellers
booksellers
suppliers
General trade bookseller
13
11
2
Religious trade bookseller
4
4
0
Educational bookseller
22
19
3
Academic bookseller
14
7
7
All sub-sectors
53
41
12
1.
2.
Seven of the 12 library suppliers focussed on the academic library market, two
on the general trade library market and three on the education library market.
Public libraries purchase few religious books, and no supplier focussed on this
market.
Figure 30: Turnover profile: Library suppliers:
All
Contact
Library
booksellers
booksellers
suppliers
23
18
5
10
8
2
5
2
3
7
5
2
4
4
0
4
4
0
1.
Library supply specialists tend to be small business enterprises rendering
specialist services.
P a g e | 35
2.
This is reflected in the total annual turnovers recorded in the survey, with more
than half recording turnovers less than R10 million per annum, and five less than
R 5 million.
Figure 31: Legal status: Library suppliers:
Legal status
All
Contact
Library
booksellers
booksellers
Suppliers
Sole proprietor
4
4
0
Closed corporation
32
24
8
Partnership
0
0
0
Private company
12
8
4
Public company
4
4
0
1
1
0
Most library suppliers were small companies and legally structured as closed
corporations.
Figure 32: Sale of electronic books: Library suppliers:
Sale of electronic books
All
Contact
Library
booksellers
booksellers
suppliers
Trade books
5
4
1
Educational books
3
2
1
Academic books
3
1
2
Of the 12 library suppliers four traded in electronic books.
Figure 33: Marketing strategies: Library suppliers:
Supplementary marketing
All
Contact
Strategies
Library
booksellers
booksellers
suppliers
Website sales
14
12
2
Telesales
3
3
0
Off-site sales
10
9
1
Only two out of 12 library suppliers engaged websites for marketing and direct sales
purposes. Most business-to-business selling seems to be done on a personal
contact basis.
P a g e | 36
4.1 Total industry book sales per bookseller category
Figure 34: Turnover profile by bookseller category: Library suppliers:
Turnover profile by
Contact
% of
Library
sub-sector
booksellers
total
R 1,084,717,000
51.0%
R 32,256,000
30.2%
R 242,525,000
11.4%
R0
0.0%
Educational books
R 207,218,000
9.7%
R 21,350,000
20.0%
Academic books
R 594,497,000
27.9%
R 53,099,000
49.8%
Total book sales
R 2,128,956,000
General trade books
suppliers
% of
total
R 106,705,000
Academic books make up nearly half of library supplier sales.
Figure 35: Library supplier share of sub-sector turnover:
Library suppliers' share
All
Library
of sub-sector turnover
suppliers
Total
R 1,116,973,000
R 32,256,000
2.9%
R 242,525,000
R0
0.0%
Educational books
R 228,568,000
R 21,350,000
9.3%
Academic books
R 647,596,000
R 53,099,000
8.2%
Total book sales
R 2,235,661,000
R 106,705,000
4.8%
General trade books
1.
2.
3.
4.
Booksellers
% of
Library suppliers accounted for R 106,705,000 in total sales, which is 4.8% of
total turnover recorded.
In the general trade sub-sector library suppliers accounted for only 2.9% of subsector sales, as most local publishers deal directly with the larger public library
services.
The recorded contribution of 9.3% in the educational book sector is unreliable,
as most contact booksellers and distributors in this sub-sector did not participate
in the survey.
The recorded contribution of 8.2% for academic library supplies should be
interpreted with caution. All direct supplies by overseas publishers are not
included in the survey (estimated to be 39.1% of the total industry value)
whereas seven of the nine library suppliers focussing on the academic subsector participated.
P a g e | 37
Figure 36: Customer category profile by bookseller category:
Customer profile
Contact
% of
Library
booksellers
total
R 1,354,985,000
% of
suppliers
total
63.6%
R 1,855,000
1.7%
R 556,719,000
26.1%
R 2,742,000
2.6%
Libraries
R 13,417,000
0.6%
R 72,404,000
67.9%
R 33,410,000
1.6%
R 22,354,000
20.9%
R 154,435,000
7.3%
R 2,147,000
2.0%
R 13,467,000
0.6%
R 5,097,000
4.8%
R 2,523,000
0.1%
R 106,000
0.1%
Individual consumer
General public
Academic students
Institutional sales
Schools
State and NGO's
Corporations
Total book sales
1.
2.
3.
4.
R 2,128,957,000
R 106,705,000
Library suppliers recorded turnover in other market segments besides libraries.
Public and academic libraries made up 67.9% of library suppliers’ total sales,
with academic institutions, which sometimes purchase textbooks in bulk as part
of their students’ academic course material, contributing a further 20.9% to total
turnover.
Website sales and telesales to the public and students contributed 1.7% and
2.6% to their total turnover respectively.
School libraries accounted for R 2,147,000 (2.0%) of sales, and government
departments (often educational reference libraries) and corporations a further
4.9%.
Figure 37: Library suppliers’ share of book retail industry library sales:
Net turnover by
Booksellers’ turnover
% of
industry sub-sector
General trade contact booksellers
with libraries
total
R 2,303,000
2.7%
R0
0.0%
Education contact booksellers
R 584,000
0.7%
Academic contact booksellers
R 10,530,000
12.3%
Library suppliers
R 72,404,000
84.4%
All booksellers
R 85,821,000
Religious trade contact booksellers
1. Library suppliers compete with contact booksellers for library sales.
2. Library suppliers recorded 84.4% of all library turnovers recorded by the
book trade.
P a g e | 38
Figure 38: Source of library supplies by industry sub-sector:
% of purchases
All books
General
Education
trade
books
books
by value
supplied
Locally supplied
Directly imported
75.9 %
24.1 %
80.6 %
19.4 %
36.0 %
64.0 %
Academic
books
33.0 %
67.0 %
1. Books imported directly from overseas by local library suppliers make up
24.1% of their total turnover.
2. In the general trade sub-sector such imported books make up 19.4% of
the total turnover value of R32,256,000 or R6,258,000.
3. In the education sub-sector such imported books make up 64.0% of the
total turnover value of R21,350,000 or R13,664,000.
4. In the academic sub-sector such imported books make up 67.0% of the
total turnover value of R53,099,000 or R35,576,000.
P a g e | 39
5 Analysis per industry sub-sector
This section of the report deals with the contributions of contact booksellers in each
sub-sector.
Most of these booksellers had a very definite focus on one of the four industry subsectors, and could hence be grouped into one of four categories of booksellers.
Generally speaking, the larger the bookseller, the more sharply it focussed on a
specific sub-sector of the book industry. However, nearly all participant booksellers
recorded some sales in other sectors besides their focus market.
5.1
General trade books sub-sector
Eleven general trade booksellers participated in the survey. Only two reported sales
of electronic books.
Figure 39 Legal status: General trade booksellers:
Legal status
All contact general trade booksellers
Number of
Booksellers
Sole proprietor
0
Closed corporation
6
Partnership
0
Private company
3
Public company
2
The six smaller participants were all structured as closed corporations.
Figure 40 Ownership: General trade booksellers:
Shareholding
Number of
All contact general trade booksellers
booksellers
% Foreign
0
% Local
11
1
10
All booksellers were locally owned, and only one was part of a larger corporate
structure.
P a g e | 40
Figure 41 Books’ contribution to total sales: General trade sub-sector:
Book sales contribution to
General
total product sales
trade
Book sales value
R 1,121,465,000
Total product sales
R 1,425,144,000
Average % book sales
78.7%
Print books contributed 78.7% to total sales. Other important product lines were
magazines and newspapers, general stationery and gift items.
Figure 42 Supplementary marketing strategies: General trade sub-sector:
Supplementary sales
General
Strategies
trade
Website sales
4
Telesales
0
Off-site sales
4
Party-plan sales
5
1.
2.
3.
Four booksellers facilitated Internet purchases through their websites.
None was specifically geared for telephone sales.
Four regularly held sales drives in shopping courtyards or other temporary
venues, and five had some selling activities at the premises of prospective
customers.
Figure 43 Bookseller turnover brackets: General trade sub-sector:
Number of
All general trade booksellers
booksellers
Less than R 5 million
4
1
0
2
2
2
Survey sample
11
1.
2.
Four of the participants recorded total annual sales of less than R 5 million.
At the other side of the spectrum two groups recorded turnovers exceeding R100
million.
P a g e | 41
Figure 44 Number of outlets per bookseller: General trade sub-sector:
Number of contact sales outlets per group
Number of
General trade booksellers
booksellers
1
5
2–5
2
6 – 10
1
11 – 20
0
More than 20
3
Five of the booksellers were single outlet operations, whilst three had national chains
of more than 20 outlets each.
Figure 45 Turnover profile: General trade booksellers:
Turnover profile
General
All booksellers
% of total
trade
turnover
R 1,052,542,000
93.9%
R 34,373,000
3.1%
Educational books
R 19,454,000
1.7%
Academic books
R 15,096,000
1.3%
Total book sales
R 1,121,464,000
General trade books
1.
2.
General trade booksellers focussed on selling trade books (97.0% of all
turnovers, with religious books contributing 3.1%).
The educational book sales included sales to private schools and vocational and
occupational teaching institutions.
Figure 46 Customer profile: General trade booksellers:
Customer profile
Turnover
Contact general trade booksellers
% of total
turnover
Individual consumer
General public
R 1,084,853,000
96.7%
R 16,348,000
1.5%
Libraries
R 2,303,000
0.2%
R 5,467,000
0.5%
R 12,373,000
1.1%
State and NGO's
R 120,000
0.0%
Total book sales
R 1,121,465,000
Academic students
Institutional sales
Schools
1.
100.0%
Individual consumers made up 85.7% of total sales, of which 25.0% were
textbook sales to tertiary students.
P a g e | 42
2.
3.
Some of the smaller booksellers or local branches of the national chains have
specific supply arrangements with teaching institutions in their catchment areas.
Sales to the smaller local public libraries contributed 3.8% to total turnover.
P a g e | 43
Figure 47 Number of outlets per province: General trade booksellers:
Number of contact outlets per province
Number of
General trade contact booksellers
outlets
Western Cape
64
Eastern Cape
10
KwaZulu-Natal
18
Northern Cape
1
Free State
3
North West
2
Gauteng
59
Mpumalanga
8
Limpopo
10
Total
175
Most retail outlets are in the Western Cape (64) followed by Gauteng (59) and
KwaZulu-Natal (18).
Figure 48 Geographic distribution of sales: General trade booksellers:
Turnover
% of total
General trade books
turnover
Western Cape
R 311,012,000
31.8%
Eastern Cape
R 39,187,000
4.0%
Kwa-Zulu Natal
R 118,615,000
12.1%
Northern Cape
R 4,398,000
0.4%
Free State
R 24,255,000
2.5%
North West
R 3,269,000
0.3%
R 449,281,000
45.9%
R 20,202,000
2.1%
R 9,226,000
0.9%
Gauteng
Mpumalanga
Limpopo
Total
1.
2.
R 979,444,000
100.0%
Gauteng trade bookshops account for 45.9% of all consumer sales. This is
followed by the Western Cape with 31.8% and KwaZulu-Natal with 12.1%.
Not included in these values are mail order sales as they could not be attributed
to a specific province.
Figure 49 Source of general trade books:
Source of product
Locally supplied
Directly imported
Contribution to sales
85.1%
14.9%
P a g e | 44
Books imported directly from overseas suppliers contributed 14.9% to total
purchases. This includes remainder sales.
P a g e | 45
5.2
Religious trade books sub-sector
The 2008 survey collected data on religious books and religious booksellers for the
first time. The two major bookseller chains, CUM Books and Gospel Direct, and a
small independent retailer, Derek Prince Ministries, participated in this survey. To
protect the confidentiality of the supplied data the survey does not report separately
on a section if there are less than four participants. The religious trade sub-sector
data was therefore added to the general trade sub-sector data in the 2008 report.
The 2011 survey collected the data of four religious trade booksellers and is the first
to report on this sub-sector separately from the general trade sub-sector.
The religious trade booksellers reported that 100% of their books sales were religious
book sales. The general trade booksellers reported that 3.2% of their trade book
sales were religious books. However, a number of the general trade participants did
not have the systems to be able to extract the sale of religious books.
The Nielsen BookScan SA 52 Week Standard Executive Report 2011 reported that
9,6% of general trade book sales recorded by general trade booksellers were books
on religion. The R34,373,000 in religious book turnover reported by general trade
booksellers is likely under-reported by a factor of three, or approximately R 60
million. The analyses below are nevertheless based on the reported values and not
these estimated adjusted values.
The total value of religious book sales recorded was R242,525,000. Of these sales
R34,373,000 was recorded by general trade booksellers, R120,000 by educational
booksellers and academic booksellers contributed R3,370,000 to total turnover. All
such sales were consumer sales as no library or other institutional sales of religious
books were recorded by any of the participants.
Figure 50 Legal status: Religious trade booksellers:
Legal status
Number of
booksellers
Private company
3
1
Christian Connection Suppliers is a division of the Methodist Church of Southern
Africa and therefore a public benefit organisation.
Figure 51 Shareholding: Religious trade booksellers:
Shareholding
Number of
booksellers
% Foreign
0
% Local
4
2
2
P a g e | 46
All religious booksellers were locally owned, with two privately owned by individuals.
Figure 52 Number of outlets per bookseller: Religious trade booksellers:
Number of contact sales outlets per bookseller
Number of
Booksellers
1
1
2–5
0
6 – 10
0
11 – 20
1
More than 20
2
One religious bookseller consisted of only one outlet, one group had between 11 and
20 outlets and two had nationwide chains of dedicated religious bookshops.
Figure 53 Books’ contribution to total turnover: Religious trade booksellers:
Book sales contribution to total product sales
Turnover
Book sales value
R 204,312,000
Total product sales
R 393,394,000
1.
2.
51.9%
Print books accounted for 51.9% of the total recorded turnover of religious trade
booksellers.
The most common other products were CD’s and DVD’s and religious gift items.
Figure 54 Supplementary marketing strategies: Religious trade booksellers:
Supplementary sales strategies
Number of
booksellers
Website sales
2
Telesales
0
Off-site sales
1
1.
2.
The two national chains had websites for Internet sales.
One group regularly conducts sales in shopping centre courtyards and other
temporary venues.
P a g e | 47
Figure 55 Customer profile: Religious trade booksellers:
Customer profile
Turnover
Contact sales to general public
% of total
turnover
R 204,312,000
100.0%
Library supplies
R0
0.0%
Teaching institutions
R0
0.0%
State and province
R0
0.0%
Corporate sales
R0
0.0%
Total
R 204,312,000
100.0%
All religious trade book turnover was generated by sales to the general public.
Figure 56 Number of outlets per province: Religious trade booksellers:
Number of contact outlets per province
Number of
% of total
booksellers
turnover
Western Cape
12
16.0%
Eastern Cape
8
10.7%
KwaZulu-Natal
8
10.7%
Northern Cape
2
2.7%
Free State
6
8.0%
North West
4
5.3%
Gauteng
32
42.7%
Mpumalanga
2
2.7%
Limpopo
1
1.3%
Total
75
100.0%
All nine provinces are served by at least one outlet, with the main concentration
being in Gauteng with 32 of the recorded 75 outlets.
P a g e | 48
Figure 57 Geographic distribution of sales: Religious trade bookshops:
Turnover
% of total
turnover
Western Cape
R 31,906,000
15.6%
Eastern Cape
R 17,421,000
8.5%
KwaZulu-Natal
R 21,978,000
10.8%
Northern Cape
R 4,346,000
2.1%
Free State
R 11,294,000
5.5%
North West
R 11,093,000
5.4%
Gauteng
R 92,535,000
45.3%
Mpumalanga
R 10,420,000
5.1%
R 3,126,000
1.5%
Limpopo
Total
1.
2.
R 204,119,000
100.0%
Gauteng contact religious bookshops dominate this market segment, recording
45.3% of national sales.
The metropolitan areas of the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal contribute
15.6% and 10.8% to total sales respectively.
Figure 58 Source of religious trade books:
Supplier analysis
% of
purchases
Locally supplied
94.9%
Directly imported
5.1%
A smaller proportion of religious books (5.1%) are imported directly from overseas
than is the case with general trade books (14.9%).
5.3
Education books sub-sector
For the first time a large enough number of educational booksellers participated in
the survey to be able to report on this sub-sector of the bookselling industry.
However, the survey sample is not regarded as sufficiently representative of the
industry for a number of reasons.
From the book publishing survey conducted parallel to this survey it was determined
that by net turnover value 26 % of annual educational book sales were distributed
through the formal bookselling infrastructure. The balance was distributed via local
businesses in terms of contractual arrangements with the relevant education
department. Publishers supplied government departments, schools and other
intermediate entities, as well as a large specialist schoolbook distributor which
operates nationally.
From the SABA membership list 60 booksellers were identified which focused their
business activities mainly or exclusively on serving the school book market.
P a g e | 49
A number of the leading educational publishers supplied the researcher with lists of
their active debtor accounts ranked in descending order of 2011 annual turnover.
From these lists a core list of 26 booksellers with estimated market shares of 1.0% or
more of the education bookseller market was identified.
These lists also revealed a further 350 business entities who traded in school books
to the value of R 100 000 per annum or more. These were not booksellers but rather
general dealers serving specific local communities.
Achieving a truly representative sample of the schoolbook bookselling sub-sector is
nearly impossible with this degree of fragmentation of the trade.
All 60 SABA members identified as educational booksellers were sent
questionnaires, as well as a number of core listed traders not members of the
association. Of these 60 core listed booksellers 19 participated in the survey.
None of the participants recorded sales of electronic books, nor any website,
telephonic or off-site marketing or sales activities.
Two of the national academic bookselling chains were also active in school book
retailing activities, and together accounted for just less than 10% by value of the
publishers’ total distribution through the book retail trade.
Figure 59 Legal status: Educational booksellers:
Legal status
All educational booksellers
Number of
booksellers
Sole proprietor
4
Closed corporation
14
Private company
1
Nearly all the participants were small local booksellers with only one structured as a
private company.
Figure 60 Ownership and shareholding profile: Educational booksellers:
Shareholding
Number of
All educational booksellers
booksellers
% Foreign
0
% Local
19
0
19
All participants were 100% locally owned and privately owned.
P a g e | 50
Figure 61 Books’ contribution to total sales: Educational booksellers:
Book sales contribution to total product sales
Turnover
Book sales value
R 134,766,000
Total product sales
R 226,135,000
59.6%
Books contributed 59.6% to total turnover. Stationery was the most common other
source of turnover.
Figure 62 Number of outlets per bookseller: Education sub-sector:
Number of contact sales outlets
Number of
Booksellers
1
18
2–5
1
Of the 19 participants, 18 had single store businesses, with only one participant
having multiple outlets in one geographical area. There are no nationally operating
educational booksellers, although two national academic chains are active in the
school book market and together account for about 10% of publisher distribution via
booksellers.
Figure 63 Book turnover profile: Education sub-sector:
Number of
Booksellers
11
5
2
1
Survey sample
19
Eleven of the 19 participants recorded school book turnovers of less than R 5 million.
Three recorded turnovers of more than R 10 million.
P a g e | 51
Figure 64 Turnover profile by sub-sector: Education booksellers:
Turnover profile by industry sub-sector product
Turnover
% of total
turnover
General trade books
R 460,000
0.3%
R 120,000
0.1%
R 134,166,000
99.6%
Academic books
R 20,000
0.0%
Total book sales
R 134,766,000
Educational books
The school booksellers focussed their business almost exclusively on school books.
Figure 65 Customer profile: Educational booksellers:
Customer profile
Turnover
All education booksellers
% of total
turnover
Individual consumer
General public
R 3,472,000
2.6%
R 20,000
0.0%
Libraries
R 584,000
0.4%
Schools
R 126,147,000
93.6%
State and NGO's
R 4,543,000
3.4%
Total book sales
R 134,766,000
Academic students
Institutional sales
1.
2.
100.0%
Schools contributed 93.6% to total turnover, with a further 3.4% sales coming
from government institutions and 0.4% from school libraries.
Individual consumer sales accounted for 2.6% of total turnover. Most of these
booksellers are situated in industrial areas not suited for retail trading.
Figure 66 Geographic distribution of contact sales: Educational books:
Geographic distribution of contact sales
Turnover
Number of % of total
Educational books
Booksellers
turnover
Western Cape
R 4,503,000
3
7.2%
Eastern Cape
R 93,527,000
14
67.4%
KwaZulu-Natal
R 1,470,000
1
6.1%
Northern Cape
R0
0
0.0%
R 1,500,000
0
1.6%
R 750,000
0
1.2%
R 10,500,000
1
14.6%
Mpumalanga
R 750,000
0
1.2%
Limpopo
R 750,000
0
2.2%
R 111,651,000
19
100.0%
Free State
North West
Gauteng
Total
P a g e | 52
1.
2.
3.
This table has limited significance as it reflects the geographical distribution of
the survey participants rather than that of the industry.
Some of the turnovers recorded here were generated by booksellers other than
educational booksellers.
What the table does illustrate is the low average turnovers of most educational
booksellers. The province best represented, the Eastern Cape, revealed an
average turnover of R6,643,000 per bookseller.
Figure 67 Supplier analysis: Educational booksellers:
Supplier analysis
% of total
purchases
Locally supplied
99.9%
Directly imported
0.1%
Almost no educational textbooks were imported directly. The small percentage of
imported schoolbooks used were obtained from local distributors.
5.4
Academic books sub-sector
Seven booksellers were classified as being academic contact booksellers. None of
them recorded any sales of electronic books.
Figure 68 Legal structure: Academic booksellers:
Legal status
Academic sub-sector
Number of
booksellers
Sole proprietor
0
Closed corporation
4
Partnership
0
Private company
1
Public company
2
The four smaller participants were all closed corporations, whereas two of the
remaining three booksellers were public companies or divisions of public companies.
P a g e | 53
Figure 69 Ownership and shareholding: Academic booksellers:
Shareholding
Number of
Academic sub-sector
Booksellers
% Foreign
1
% Local
6
2
5
1.
2.
All but one of the academic booksellers were locally owned companies.
Of the seven booksellers in this sub-sector, two had a majority of shares owned
by corporations and five were individually owned.
Figure 70 Books’ contribution to total sales: Academic booksellers:
Book sales contribution to total sales
Turnover
Academic sub-sector
Book sales value
R 668,414,000
Total product sales
R 768,501,000
1.
2.
87.0%
Print books generated 87.0% of total turnover.
The other 13% was generated by the sale of second hand textbooks, general
stationery, computers, computer consumables, calculators, medical equipment,
art materials, magazines and gifts.
Figure 71 Supplementary marketing strategies: Academic booksellers:
Supplementary marketing and sales strategies
Number of
Academic sub-sector
booksellers
Website sales
6
Telesales
3
Off-site sales
4
1.
2.
3.
Of the seven participants, six had websites where students could order
textbooks.
Three served the distance learning institutions such as UNISA and had facilities
for telephonic ordering of textbooks.
Four academic booksellers arranged for sales to take place at venues other than
their permanent retail stores.
P a g e | 54
Figure 72 Annual book turnover profiles: Academic booksellers:
Number of
Academic sub-sector
booksellers
2
1
R 10 million to R20 million
0
1
2
1
Survey sample
7
1.
2.
3.
Three bookseller groups operate nationally, whilst a fourth serves a number of
tertiary institutions within one province.
One bookseller group dominates the market with turnovers exceeding R100
million, whilst two recorded annual book sales of between R50 million and R100
million.
Two academic booksellers served specific institutions and/or campuses with
turnovers below R 5 million per annum.
Figure 73: Number of outlets per bookseller: Academic booksellers
Number of contact sales outlets
Number of
Academic sub-sector
booksellers
1
2
2–5
1
6 – 10
3
11 – 20
0
More than 20
1
The leading bookseller group has more than 40 outlets, whilst the other two operating
nationally have between 6 and 10 outlets each.
Figure 74: Turnover profile by product category: Academic booksellers:
Turnover profile by product category
Turnover
% of total
Academic sub-sector
turnover
General trade books
R 31,715,000
4.7%
R 3,720,000
0.6%
R 53,598,000
8.0%
Academic books
R 579,381,000
86.7%
Total book sales
R 668,414,000
100.0%
Educational books
1.
Academic booksellers focus largely on their primary customers, but to a lesser
extent than trade booksellers. Academic booksellers recorded 86.7% of their
P a g e | 55
2.
sales in the academic sub-sector, whereas trade booksellers recorded a sector
concentration of 97.0% in trade books.
Academic retailers recorded 86.7% of their sales as academic books, followed
by 4.7% as general trade books, 0.6% as religious trade books and 8.0% as
educational books. A significant proportion of these educational books may have
been FET textbooks as there is some degree of crossover between the
educational and academic sub-sectors for FET books.
Figure 75 Customer profile: Academic booksellers:
Customer profile
Turnover
Academic booksellers
% of total
turnover
Contact sales
R 602,699,000
90.2%
Library supplies
R 10,530,000
1.6%
Teaching institutions
R 43,858,000
6.6%
State and province
R 8,924,000
1.3%
Corporate sales
R 2,403,000
0.4%
Total
1.
2.
3.
R 668,414,000
100.0%
Academic booksellers trade relatively more with institutions (9.8%) than trade
booksellers do (1.8%). Some teaching institutions buy textbooks in bulk for
distribution to their students. At some institutions such bulk purchases are
channelled through their libraries.
Whereas many academic bookshops are located on academic campuses, which
restrict their sales to students and academic libraries, some outlets are situated
in central business districts which enable them to capture a share of the trade
sub-sector. Academic booksellers recorded that 9.3% of their total income was
generated by the general public. As they have no method of measuring this
parameter, it is assumed that 9.3% of their turnover was generated by general
trade books, many of which could have been purchased by students.
The 6.6% turnover market share generated by teaching institutions may include
a significant contribution of sales to FET colleges. Although generally regarded
as secondary education institutions and hence belonging to the education subsector, some FET textbooks are published by academic publishers with whom
academic booksellers have good relationships, and are distributed by these
booksellers.
Figure 76 Geographic distribution of sales: Academic books:
Geographic distribution of contact sales
Number
Turnover
of
Academic books
outlets
% of
turnover
Western Cape
20
R 88,068,000
16.8%
Eastern Cape
8
R 31,536,000
5.7%
KwaZulu-Natal
14
R 78,775,000
14.2%
Northern Cape
1
R 2,374,000
0.4%
Free State
5
R 26,462,000
4.8%
North West
4
R 36,254,000
6.5%
P a g e | 56
Gauteng
37
R 248,307,000
45.9%
Mpumalanga
3
R 6,193,000
1.4%
Limpopo
2
R 22,381,000
4.4%
Total
94
R 540,351,000
100.0%
1. This table reports the turnovers of academic books sold by contact
booksellers. It excludes the turnover values of trade and educational books
sold by academic booksellers.
2. Gauteng accounts for 45.9% of all sales by academic books, followed by the
Western Cape at 16.8% and KwaZulu-Natal at 14.2%.
Figure 77 Supplier analysis: Academic books:
Supplier analysis
% of
Academic sub-sector
Purchases
Locally supplied
63.2%
Directly imported
36.8%
1.
2.
3.
For the academic sub-sector as a whole 36.8% of books were sourced directly
from overseas suppliers or their local indent agencies.
Due to the nature of the product, almost all professional books, which make up a
significant proportion of the total turnover in this sub-sector, are locally
published.
The percentage of undergraduate textbooks directly imported has been
recalculated as 39.1%.
P a g e | 57
6
Comparison between survey results
6.1 Participants common to the surveys
Three industry surveys have been done for the book retail industry to date, reporting
on the activities during the calendar years 2006, 2008 and 2011. Thirteen contact
booksellers participated in all three surveys; seven trade booksellers (including two
religious trade national chains) and six academic booksellers. Two library suppliers
also participated in all three surveys, but as it is policy not to report if the survey
sample is less than four participants in a specific sub-sector or niche of the industry,
their data was omitted from the comparative database.
The booksellers common to the surveys who make up the comparative database
were:
Adams & Company
Bargain Books
BT Books
CUM Books
Exclusive Books
Gospel Direct
Juta
L.J. Armstrong Booksellers
Leserskring
P.N.A.
Protea Boekhuis
Wordsworth
Van Schaik Booksellers.
These booksellers represent all the major national chains with the exception of a
large general trade bookseller which did not participate in the 2011 survey. Their
combined market shares in each sub-sector of the industry exceeded 80% in each of
the years under review.
A comparison between the three surveys was done for the trade and the academic
sub-sectors in terms of:
1.
Product profile in terms of sub-category of book.
2.
Customer profile in terms of annual sales per customer category.
3.
The number of sales outlets per province.
4.
The geographic distribution of sales.
5.
The source of product profile in terms of locally sourced or directly imported.
6.2 Context of the surveys
The external conditions under which the industry functioned in the period under
review differed from one another in a number of significant ways.
6.2.1 Industry context
Over the period of five years since the first survey done in 2007 on the 2006 calendar
year’s results a number of changes have occurred in the book retail industry which
may have had a minor influence on the survey data.
Fascination Books, one of the larger national trade bookseller groups with 28 retail
outlets and an annual book turnover well over R 150 million was liquidated in 2007.
A few of its shops were taken over by survey participants. Other participants with
outlets within the catchment area of a Fascination Books outlet would have benefited
P a g e | 58
from its demise. Hence not all growth recorded over the five years can hence be
ascribed to organic market growth.
Similarly Brain Books, which had a significant share of the Pretoria academic
textbook market, ceased trading at the end of 2007. Other academic booksellers
serving this very significant market benefited from the closure of a competitor. A
proportion of the growth recorded in this sub-sector can be attributed to this factor.
Some of the larger academic participants have acquired a number of smaller
independent booksellers, thus increasing their market shares.
6.2.2 Changes in the industry supply chain
Changes in the government’s school book procurement practices and the expansion
of Internet sales either through independent e-tailers or publisher’s websites
significantly changed the distribution of books from suppliers to end-users, with
booksellers as intermediate service providers losing a significant share of the
publishers’ sales into the market.
Since the 2008 Book Publishers Annual Industry Survey the publishers’ choice of
supply chain was recorded annually per industry sub-sector. These surveys indicate
the extent to which the local book retail industry has lost its share of local publishers’
throughput to the market.
Figure 78 Publisher supply chain: All industry sub-sectors:
Publisher supply chain
2011
2008
Market share
All sub-sectors
Survey
Survey
change
51.9%
3.4%
1.3%
1.9%
1.1%
1.3%
39.1%
49.1%
2.8%
0.7%
1.5%
1.0%
1.3%
43.6%
2.8%
0.6%
0.6%
0.4%
0.1%
0.0%
-4.5%
Book retail industry
Other retail industry
Internet e-tailers
Mail order clubs
Direct sales
Libraries
School supplies
1.
2.
3.
In 2008 school books made a significant contribution to total book publishing
sales, with the revised curriculum in its final stages of implementation. Most of
the trade in school books bypassed the formal educational bookseller sector.
Compared to 2008 the book retail industry in 2011 gained 2.8% in total market
share, with the other retail industry (largely wholesalers and national discounter
chains) gaining 0.6% and the Internet retailers also recording an increase of
0.6% in total market share.
However, the following tables show that these gains were very industry subsector specific.
P a g e | 59
Figure 79 Publisher supply chain: General trade sub-sector:
2011
2008
Market share
General trade supplier sub-sector
Survey
Survey
change
Internet e-tailers
Mail order clubs
Direct sales
Libraries
School supplies
73.8%
7.7%
2.9%
5.6%
4.6%
2.7%
2.7%
77.3%
6.4%
2.3%
5.4%
3.4%
2.0%
3.3%
-3.5%
1.3%
0.6%
0.3%
1.2%
0.7%
-0.5%
1.
2.
Booksellers in the general trade sub-sector lost 3.5% share in the publisher’s
distribution to market. Wholesalers gained 1.3%, Internet retailers 0.6% and
mail order clubs a further 0.3%
Publishers own website direct sales to end-users captured a further 1.2% market
share, and publisher direct sales to public libraries gained 0.7% at the expense
of booksellers.
Figure 80 Publisher supply chain: Religious trade sub-sector:
2011
2008
Market share
Religious trade supplier sub-sector
Survey
Survey
change
84.9%
88.8%
-3.9%
7.9%
7.9%
0.0%
0.4%
0.5%
-0.2%
3.1%
2.0%
1.1%
3.7%
0.7%
3.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
Internet e-tailers
Mail order clubs
Direct sales
Libraries
School supplies
1.
2.
A similar pattern to that in the general trade sub-sector is found in the religious
trade sub-sector. The book retail industry, consisting of both religious chains
and general trade bookseller groups, lost 3.9% of the flow of products to the
market.
Mail order retailers gained 1.1% of these lost bookseller sales, and direct sales
by the publishers accounted for a gain of 3.0% in total market share.
P a g e | 60
Figure 81 Publisher supply chain: Education sub-sector:
2011
2008
Market share
Education supplier sub-sector
Survey
Survey
Change
26.2%
27.5%
-1.3%
1.1%
0.7%
0.4%
0.0%
0.1%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
3.1%
0.2%
2.9%
0.4%
1.1%
-0.7%
69.2%
70.4%
-1.2%
Internet e-tailers
Mail order clubs
Direct sales
Libraries
School supplies
In 2011 FET college textbook sales were significantly higher than in 2008, rising from
R 60 million to more than R 120 million. These books are largely sold directly to the
colleges (hence regarded as direct sales) and account for some of the gains in this
sector of the supply chain at the expense of the bookseller sector and the supplies to
schools and government departments.
Figure 82 Publisher supply chain: Academic sub-sector:
2011
2008
Market share
Academic supplier sub-sector
Survey
Survey
change
87.3%
83.1%
4.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.0%
2.1%
1.1%
1.0%
0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
1.6%
0.8%
0.8%
2.9%
1.5%
1.4%
5.8%
13.3%
-7.5%
Internet e-tailers
Mail order clubs
Direct sales
Libraries
School supplies
The academic book retail sub-sector was the only sub-sector recording a significant
increase in its share of the academic textbook market (excluding professional books)
and achieved this gain in a high growth area. This was achieved inter alia by
opening more outlets on campus at a number of tertiary education institutions in
previously poorly served provinces such as Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.
The change in the booksellers’ share of the book distribution industry declined in
three of the four industry sub-sectors, but showed large gains in the academic
textbook market, the sub-sector with the highest growth rate.
6.2.3 External influences
The reporting period bridges the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) which had a
significant effect on the economies of most countries and negatively influenced
consumer spending and hence the market for trade books. In the reporting period
trade books were increasingly distributed by Internet traders, both locally and abroad,
and the electronic book made its appearance at the expense of print books.
P a g e | 61
At the same time, new curricula were introduced at primary and secondary school
level, as well as at FET colleges. Although most school books were distributed
outside of the formal bookselling infrastructure, these changes had some influence
on the surveyed results.
At the tertiary education level the consolidation and restructure of the tertiary
education infrastructure was finalised and significant investments made in increasing
student enrolments. A student financial aid scheme of several hundred million rand
was introduced before 2006 and its funding then significantly increased to more than
R 4 billion in 2011 which greatly stimulated the sale of undergraduate textbooks.
6.2.4 Economic context
From early 2004 onwards most developed countries in the western world
experienced an unprecedented boom in consumer spending and industrial
investment and output, driven mainly by artificially low interest rates, easy credit, low
personal tax rates, sharp increases in housing prices and a boom on the world’s
stock exchanges. In the second half of 2008 this all came to a crashing halt and
reversal triggered by bank defaults in the USA and Europe.
Although South Africa was spared the worst of the financial and economic downturn
experienced in many other countries, partly because of its sound banking sector,
business and consumer sentiment turned negative, with resultant declines in
business activity and consumer spending.
The economic indicators recorded below reflect on the economic climate during the
review period.
Figure 83 Gross domestic product: Year-on-year per capita growth rate:
Calendar Year
Year-on-year per capita growth rate
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
4.3 %
2.4 %
-2.6 %
1.9 %
2.1 %
Source: http://www.resbank.co.za/Research/Statistics/Pages/Statistics-Home.aspx (accessed 7
September 2012)
Figure 84 Retail sales annual growth rate:
Calendar Year
Year-on-year growth rate
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2.0 %
2.0%
-0.5 %
9.0 %
6.8 %
P a g e | 62
Source: Buro for Economic Research; University of Stellenbosch
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/south-africa (accessed 18 August 2012)
Figure 85 Consumer price index (CPI) and Producer price index (PPI):
Calendar Year
Consumer Price Index
Producer Price Index
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
7.2%
11.5%
7.1%
4.3%
5%
9.6%
16.5%
-12.0%
3.0%
9.9%
Source:http://www.statssa.gov.za/keyindicators/CPI/CPIHistory.pdf;
http://www.statssa.gov.za/keyindicators/PPI/Imported.pdf (accessed 7 September 2012)
P a g e | 63
Figure 86 Business and consumer confidence indices:
Business confidence index
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
First quarter
55
43
27
48
81
Second quarter
48
36
26
45
80
Third quarter
39
47
23
34
72
Fourth quarter
38
44
28
33
67
Long term average
45
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
First quarter
9
15
4
-6
23
Second quarter
11
14
1
-1
21
Third quarter
4
15
6
-4
18
Fourth quarter
5
14
15
1
22
Consumer confidence index
Long term average
2.3
Source: Stellenbosch Bureau for Economic Research, http://www.ber.ac.za/RMBBERBCI/2024.aspx;
http://www.ber.ac.za/FNBBERBCI/2025.aspx (accessed 7 September 2012)
Figure 87 S.A. Reserve Bank benchmark interest rate (repo rate):
Repo interest rate
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
First quarter
5.5%
6.5%
9.5%
11.0%
9.0%
Second quarter
5.5%
6.0%
9.0%
11.0%
9.5%
Third quarter
5.5%
5.5%
8.0%
11.5%
10.0%
Fourth quarter
5.5%
5.5%
7.0%
12.0%
10.5%
Source: Stellenbosch Bureau for Economic Research, http://www.tradingeconomics.com/south-africa
(accessed 18 August 2012)
Figure 88 Average annual currency exchange rates
Annual average buy rate (ZAR to foreign currency) at 1% above the interbank loan
rate for the four main trading partners, the USA, Great Britain, the Eurozone and
Australia.
Calendar
Year
US $
GB Pound
Euro
Aus $
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
0.1402
0.1214
0.1187
0.1350
0.1369
0.0853
0.0873
0.0756
0.0654
0.0853
0.0983
0.1019
0.0849
0.0824
0.1024
0.1690
0.1444
0.1516
0.1484
0.1338
Source: www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates (accessed 18 August 2012)
P a g e | 64
As most practitioners are more familiar with the reverse exchange rates, they are
stated below.
Figure 89 Average annual currency exchange rates (inverted ratio’s):
Calendar
US $
GB Pound
Euro
Aus $
Year
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
7.1327
8.2372
8.4246
7.4074
7.3046
11.7233
11.4548
13.2275
15.2905
11.7233
10.1729
9.8135
11.7786
12.1359
9.7656
5.9172
6.9252
6.5963
6.7385
7.4738
Indexed with the 2007 yearly average rate as 100 the exchange rates fluctuated as
follows over the review period:
Figure 90 Currency exchange rates indexed 2007 = 100:
Calendar
US $
GB Pound
Euro
Year
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
100
115
118
104
102
100
98
113
130
100
100
96
116
119
96
Aus $
100
117
111
114
126
The above tables illustrate how over the review period the exuberance of 2006 gave
way to a very short-lived but nevertheless deep recession in 2009, with monetary
policy aimed at upholding consumer confidence by sharply lowering the bank interest
rates on consumer credit levels. The rand was particularly weak against its main
trading partner’s currency the US dollar in 2008 but recovered in 2011 except against
the Australian dollar, largely due to the latter’s strength.
P a g e | 65
6.3 Representative nature of the comparative database
The comparisons below exclude the educational book industry sub-sector, as no
bookseller focussing on the sale and distribution of school books participated in all
three surveys.
The comparative database contains only the data from the 13 contact booksellers
which participated in all three surveys. Data originating from all other participants in
the three annual surveys have been eliminated.
To determine the degree the comparative database represents the individual survey
results as well as the estimated industry turnovers the estimated industry turnovers
were adjusted to include the value of the bookseller direct imports, as these values
are included in the comparative data. This process consisted of three steps;
1. grossing up the survey values of bookseller direct imports to industry estimates,
2. adding these survey values and industry estimates to the values used in figure 6,
3. expressing these total survey and industry estimate values relative to each other.
Figure 91 Grossed up direct import survey values to industry estimates:
At bookseller
2011 Survey
Survey as %
2011 industry
retail value
value
of industry
estimate
General trade
R 120,633,000
80.2%
R 150,000,000
Religious trade
R 12,369,000
73.4%
R 17,000,000
Trade
R 133,002,000
Academic textbooks
R 253,210,000
1.
2.
3.
4.
R 167,000,000
86.1%
R 294,000,000
The ratios between survey and industry values established in figure 8 are used
to gross up the survey values of direct imports to industry estimates.
Local general trade booksellers directly import books to a total retail value of
R150,000,000 assuming that the non-participants representing 19.8% by value
operate similarly to the participants representing the 80.2% by value recorded in
the survey.
The corresponding values for religious trade direct imports is R17,000,000 and
for academic books R294,000,000.
These values are added back to the industry totals calculated in figure 8, as
shown in the figure below.
Figure 92 Bookseller industry values including direct imports:
At bookseller
Publisher survey Bookseller survey
Publisher survey
retail value
General trade
Religious trade
Trade
Academic textbooks
estimate of
estimate of
estimate including
bookseller sales
direct imports
direct imports
R 1,242,000,000
R 150,000,000
R 1,392,000,000
R 313,000,000
R 17,000,000
R 330,000,000
R 1,555,000,000
R 167,000,000
R 1,722,000,000
R 458,000,000
R 294,000,000
R 752,000,000
P a g e | 66
Figure 93 Industry representation including direct imported books:
At bookseller
Publisher survey
Bookseller survey Bookseller survey
retail value
General trade
Religious trade
Trade
Academic textbooks
estimate including
turnover including
representation of
direct imports
direct imports
industry turnover
R 1,392,000,000
R 1,117,000,000
80.2%
R 330,000,000
R 243,000,000
73.4%
R 1,722,000,000
R 1,359,000,000
78.9%
R 752,000,000
R 648,000,000
86.1%
The industry estimates calculated in figure 92 are compared to the survey totals
reported in figure 7 to determine the degree to which the survey results represent the
industry results.
These recalculated total turnovers are used to compare the turnovers recorded in the
comparative database, the survey database and the industry total estimates.
Figure 94 Comparison of industry, survey and comparative databases for 2011:
At bookseller
retail value
Trade
Academic textbooks
2011
2011
2011
Industry
Survey
Comparative
R 1,722,000,000
R 1,359,498,000
R 1,285,716,000
R 752,000,000
R 647,596,000
R 581,356,000
The data eliminated from the survey database to create the comparative database
totalled R73,782,000 [R1,359,498,000 – R1,285,716,000] in the trade sub-sector
(general and religious trade books combined) and R66,240,000 in the academic
textbook sub-sector.
At bookseller
retail value
Trade
Academic textbooks
2008
2008
2008
Industry
Survey
Comparative
R 1,625,000,000
R 1,468,407,000
R 1,149,618,000
R 620,000,000
R 486,036,000
R 452,122,000
The 2008 industry estimate for academic books made inadequate distinction
between undergraduate textbooks and professional books, and is not as accurate as
that for 2011.
At bookseller
2006
2006
2006
retail value
Industry
Survey
Comparative
Trade
n/a
R 1,318,918,000
R 987,261,000
Academic textbooks
n/a
R 349,221,000
R 301,438,000
No industry estimates were done for 2006.
P a g e | 67
Figure 97 Representation: Comparative databases to survey databases:
Comparative data
2011
2008
2006
to survey data
Trade
94.6%
78.3%
74.9%
Academic textbooks
89.8%
93.0%
86.3%
1.
2.
The comparative database represented a fairly constant percentage of the
survey database as far as academic textbooks are concerned. The changes in
these percentages are probably due to changes in the relative market shares of
the comparative participants compared to those who did not participate in all
three surveys.
The increased level of participation in the trade sub-sector in 2011 is due to the
non-participation of a major bookseller in this year’s survey.
Figure 98 Representation: Comparative databases to estimated industry totals:
Comparative data
2011
2008
2006
to industry data
Trade
74.6%
70.7%
n/a
Academic textbooks
77.3%
72.9%
n/a
1.
2.
No industry estimates were made for 2006.
The changed representations are due to increases in market shares by
booksellers in the comparative database. Some smaller independent and nonparticipant booksellers were acquired over this period and their results included
in the comparative databases.
P a g e | 68
6.4 Comparative turnovers for 2011, 2008 and 2006
The data is first presented for the two participating industry sub-sectors combined
and then separately for the trade and academic industry sub-sector participants, with
each group’s contribution to both trade and academic book sales to cover the degree
of cross-selling between them.
Figure 99 Turnover profiles: Comparative trade and academic sub-sectors:
Turnover profile
2011
2008
2006
Both sub-sectors
Turnover
%
Turnover
%
Trade books
Educational books
Academic books
All book sales
R 1,285,716,000
66.3%
R 1,149,618,000
69.4%
R 987,261,000
73.1%
R 71,302,000
3.7%
R 54,164,000
3.3%
R 61,878,000
4.6%
R 581,356,000
30.0%
R 452,122,000
27.3%
R 301,438,000
22.3%
1.
2.
R 1,938,375,000
Turnover
R 1,655,904,000
%
R 1,350,577,000
Academic textbooks made up an increasing proportion of the turnover recorded
by the comparative panel of participants. The contribution to total turnover
increased from 22.3% in 2006, through 27.3% in 2008 to 30.0% in 2011.
The turnovers generated by educational books represent only the values sold
through the national bookseller chains. These turnovers include the sales of
school dictionaries to the general public and sales to private schools, school
libraries and textbooks sales to FET colleges.
Figure 100 Year-on-year change in turnover: Comparative booksellers:
Average year-on-year change
2011 / 2008
2008 / 2006
Both sub-sectors
Trade Books
School books
Academic books
All book sales
1.
2.
3.
%
%
3.9%
10.5%
9.5%
5.7%
8.2%
-6.2%
25.0%
11.3%
The turnover of trade book increased by 8.2% per year between 2006 and 2008
and then by an average of 3.9% per year for the three years between 2008 and
2011.
The turnover generated by educational books varies significantly from year to
year.
Academic textbook sales increased by 25% per year for two years to 2008 and
by 9.5% per year for the three years to 2011.
Figure 101 Customer profiles: Comparative booksellers:
Customer profile
Both sub-sectors
2011
2008
2006
Turnover
%
Turnover
%
Turnover
R 1,329,126,000
68.6%
R 1,147,403,000
69.3%
R 954,013,000
70.6%
R 528,305,000
27.3%
R 454,839,000
27.5%
R 281,984,000
20.9%
%
Individual consumer
General public
Academic students
Institutional sales
P a g e | 69
Libraries
R 11,890,000
0.6%
R 12,549,000
0.8%
R 49,721,000
3.7%
R 33,329,000
1.7%
R 19,650,000
1.2%
R 15,461,000
1.1%
Schools
R 24,641,000
1.3%
R 12,866,000
0.8%
R 34,776,000
2.6%
State and NGO's
R 11,084,000
0.6%
R 8,597,000
0.5%
R 14,621,000
1.1%
Total book turnover
R 1,938,375,000
R 1,655,904,000
R 1,350,577,000
1. Academic students constitute a rising share of sales, increasing from 20.9% in
2006 to 27.3% in 2011.
2. Library sales by the larger bookseller chains continue their declining trend of the
past few years, falling to a 0.6% contribution in 2011.
3. The academic institutions recorded include FET colleges and private tertiary
education institutions.
4. Sales to schools and government departments vary greatly from year to year due
to external factors such as the implementation of new curricula school books.
Figure 102 Year-on-year changes in turnover per customer category:
2011 / 2008
2008 / 2006
Both sub-sectors
Individual consumer
General public
Academic students
Institutional sales
Libraries
Schools
State and NGO's
Total book turnover
1.
2.
3.
4.
Turnover
Turnover
5.3%
5.4%
10.1%
30.6%
-1.8%
23.2%
30.5%
9.6%
5.7%
-37.4%
13.5%
-31.5%
-20.6%
11.3%
Book sales to the general public increased by an average of 10.1% per year
between 2006 and 2008 and thereafter by an average of 5.3% per year over the
three year period to 2011.
Sales to academic students increased by 30.6% per year and 5.4% per year in
the corresponding periods.
Contact bookseller sales to public and academic libraries continued to decline.
Sales to academic institutions and schools increased sharply from 2008
onwards, but from a very low base. These sales may relate to the very sharp
increase in sales to FET colleges.
P a g e | 70
6.5 Contribution to sub-sector turnover by province
Figure 103 Geographic distribution of sales: Both trade sub-sectors:
Both
2011
2008
2006
trade
Annual
%
Annual
%
Annual
%
sub-sectors
turnover
total
turnover
total
turnover
total
Western Cape
R 344,096,000
29.5%
R 301,374,000
31.4%
R 276,927,000
33.2%
Eastern Cape
R 54,448,000
4.7%
R 38,448,000
4.0%
R 28,725,000
3.4%
KwaZulu-Natal
R 136,281,000
11.7%
R 99,714,000
10.4%
R 85,912,000
10.3%
Northern Cape
R 8,024,000
0.7%
R 3,209,000
0.3%
R 1,601,000
0.2%
Free State
R 35,469,000
3.0%
R 24,052,000
2.5%
R 17,227,000
2.1%
North West
R 14,603,000
1.3%
R 14,054,000
1.5%
R 7,409,000
0.9%
R 529,863,000
45.4%
R 447,397,000
46.6%
R 399,690,000
47.9%
Mpumalanga
R 29,229,000
2.5%
R 25,875,000
2.7%
R 15,323,000
1.8%
Limpopo
R 15,241,000
1.3%
R 6,465,000
0.7%
R 2,338,000
0.3%
Gauteng
All provinces
R 1,167,254,000
R 960,589,000
R 835,152,000
The dominance of the three metropolitan areas around Johannesburg, Cape Town
and Durban was reduced by increased turnovers recorded in some of the smaller
provinces. However, the three provinces still account for more than 85% of total
turnover.
Figure 104 Geographic distribution of sales: Academic sub-sector:
Academic
2011
2008
sub-sector
Turnover
Western Cape
R 99,338,000
16.3%
R 75,690,000
13.9%
R 58,986,000
14.9%
Eastern Cape
R 36,224,000
5.9%
R 25,247,000
4.6%
R 13,683,000
3.5%
KwaZulu-Natal
R 91,076,000
14.9%
R 91,785,000
16.8%
R 66,845,000
16.9%
Northern Cape
R 2,727,000
0.4%
R0
0.0%
R0
0.0%
Free State
R 30,395,000
5.0%
R 31,483,000
5.8%
R 20,633,000
5.2%
North West
R 41,072,000
6.7%
R 33,068,000
6.1%
R 21,072,000
5.3%
R 272,229,000
44.7%
R 268,086,000
49.1%
R 206,070,000
52.1%
Mpumalanga
R 10,643,000
1.7%
R 9,256,000
1.7%
R 4,421,000
1.1%
Limpopo
R 25,707,000
4.2%
R 11,663,000
2.1%
R 3,693,000
0.9%
Gauteng
All provinces
R 609,410,000
%
Turnover
R 546,277,000
%
2006
Turnover
%
R 395,403,000
Additional outlets in some of the traditionally poorly serviced provinces such as the
Eastern Cape and Limpopo have generated significant sales for these areas.
P a g e | 71
Figure 105 Supplier analysis: All booksellers:
Direct imports
2011
Both sub-sectors
Trade Books
School books
Academic books
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
2008
2006
% Purchases
% Purchases
% Purchases
10.2%
0.3%
37.1%
7.0%
0.1%
40.1%
6.7%
8.0%
33.8%
By direct importation is meant bookseller purchases from suppliers outside
South Africa, without the intermediation of local distributors. Such transactions
are identified by their having been recorded in a currency other than the rand.
Most of the larger and medium-sized overseas academic publishers were locally
represented by indent agencies, which market their titles, collect and record the
sales and then arrange by indent for the direct supply and invoicing by the
overseas parent company or distributor. Booksellers placed orders for smaller
academic or professional publishers with wholesalers and/or distribution
agencies abroad. Examples of such suppliers are New Jersey Book Agency,
Marston Book Services, Francis & Taylor etc. Only a small proportion of direct
import orders were placed directly with overseas publishers.
A number of the specialist trade booksellers place their orders directly with the
overseas publishers. However, they are not represented in the comparative
sample.
Remainder trade books are often purchased directly from overseas suppliers.
Neither religious bookseller group purchased books directly from overseas
suppliers.
There has been a gradual increase in the direct importation of trade books, from
6.7 % in 2006, through 7.0% in 2008 to 10.2% in 2011. This increase can be
partly attributed to an increase in remainder books sales.
There has been a significant increase in the market share of directly imported
academic textbooks from 33.8% in 2006 to 40.1% in 2008. The contribution of
direct imports to total purchases fell to 37.1% in 2011.
P a g e | 72
6.6 Number of retail outlets by province
Figure 106 Number of outlets per sub-sector by province:
2011
2008
Number of outlets
Number of outlets
Sub-sector
Western Cape
Eastern Cape
KwaZulu-Natal
Northern Cape
Free State
North West
Gauteng
Mpumalanga
Limpopo
All provinces
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2006
Number of outlets
Both Trade Acad Both Trade Acad Both Trade
94
23
35
4
13
9
120
13
12
323
74
15
22
3
8
5
84
8
10
229
20
8
13
1
5
4
36
5
2
94
105
18
32
3
12
8
103
13
6
300
94
12
21
3
8
5
72
8
5
228
11
6
11
0
4
3
31
5
1
72
94
11
22
2
9
6
97
10
4
255
86
7
12
2
7
4
67
5
3
193
Acad
8
4
10
0
2
2
30
5
1
62
The total number of book retail outlets increased to 323 stores, up from 255 in
2006 and 300 in 2008.
The number of academic retail outlets increased from 62 in 2006 to 94 in 2011.
Many of these new outlets are campus stores serving the student communities
exclusively.
All provinces indicate an increase in the number of academic book outlets over
the five year period, with the Western Cape showing the largest gain from 8 to
20 outlets over the period.
The number of trade retail outlets increased sharply from 193 in 2006 to 228 in
2008 and then stabilised at 229 in 2011. The difference in the geographic
location of outlets between 2008 and 2011 indicates that a number of new
outlets opened in 2009 and 2010 and others closed during the same period.
The geographical distribution of the trade outlets reflects the repositioning of
outlets to obtain a more even distribution country-wide. Gauteng dominates the
trade bookselling infrastructure even more than before, with 84 stores in 2011
against 67 in 2006. The Western Cape recorded a sharp decline from 94 to 74
stores between 2008 and 2011.
P a g e | 73
Figure 107 Average turnover per outlet: Trade booksellers 2008 and 2011:
2011
2008
Trade
Bookseller
Annual
Out-
Average
Annual
Out-
Average
sub-sector
turnover
lets
per outlet
turnover
lets
per outlet
Western Cape
R 344,096,000
R 54,448,000
R 136,281,000
R 8,024,000
R 35,469,000
R 14,603,000
R 529,863,000
R 29,229,000
R 15,241,000
R 1,167,254,000
74
15
22
3
8
5
84
8
10
229
R 4,650,000
R 3,630,000
R 6,195,000
R 2,675,000
R 4,434,000
R 2,921,000
R 6,308,000
R 3,654,000
R 1,524,000
R 5,097,000
R 301,374,000
R 38,448,000
R 99,714,000
R 3,209,000
R 24,052,000
R 14,054,000
R 447,397,000
R 25,875,000
R 6,465,000
R 960,589,000
94
12
21
3
8
5
72
8
5
228
R 3,206,000
R 3,204,000
R 4,748,000
R 1,070,000
R 3,007,000
R 2,811,000
R 6,214,000
R 3,234,000
R 1,293,000
R 4,213,000
Eastern Cape
KwaZulu-Natal
Northern Cape
Free State
North West
Gauteng
Mpumalanga
Limpopo
All provinces
1.
2.
With the total number of retail outlets virtually unchanged, although their
locations markedly different, and possibly also the total trading areas, the
average annual turnover per outlet increased by 21% from 2008 to 2011. This is
slightly more than the accumulative inflation rate over the same period.
The reduction of 20 outlets in the Western Cape increased the average turnover
per outlet by 45% to R 4,650,000, still well below the averages for Gauteng and
KwaZulu-Natal at R6,308,000 and R6,195,000 respectively.
Figure 108 Year-on-year turnover change per province: Trade booksellers:
2011 / 2008
2011 / 2008
Trade sub-sector turnover
Western Cape
Eastern Cape
KwaZulu-Natal
Northern Cape
Free State
North West
Gauteng
Mpumalanga
Limpopo
All provinces
1.
2.
No of outlets
%
-20
3
1
0
0
0
12
0
5
1
4.7%
13.9%
12.2%
50.0%
15.8%
1.3%
6.1%
4.3%
45.2%
7.2%
The Western Cape was the only province to suffer a net decline in the number of
book retail outlets (20), but nevertheless managed to record a 4.7% average
annual increase in turnover per outlet.
Gauteng recorded an increase of 12 in the number of trade book outlets, and a
relatively modest increase of 6.1% in average annual turnover over the three
year period.
P a g e | 74
3.
The Northern Cape recorded a 50% increase in turnover without an increase in
the number of outlets, followed closely by Limpopo with an average annual
turnover growth rate of 45 % driven partly by an additional outlet in this province.
Figure 109 Average turnover per outlet: Academic booksellers 2008 and 2011:
Academic
2011
2008
Bookseller
Annual
Out-
Average
Annual
Out-
Average
sub-sector
turnover
lets
per outlet
turnover
lets
per outlet
Western Cape
Eastern Cape
KwaZulu-Natal
Northern Cape
Free State
North West
Gauteng
Mpumalanga
Limpopo
All provinces
R 99,338,000
R 36,224,000
R 91,076,000
R 2,727,000
R 30,395,000
R 41,072,000
R 272,229,000
R 10,643,000
R 25,707,000
R 609,410,000
20
8
13
1
5
4
36
5
2
94
R 4,967,000
R 4,528,000
R 7,006,000
R 2,727,000
R 6,079,000
R 10,268,000
R 7,562,000
R 2,129,000
R 12,854,000
R 6,483,000
R 75,690,000
R 25,247,000
R 91,785,000
R0
R 31,483,000
R 33,068,000
R 268,086,000
R 9,256,000
R 11,663,000
R 546,277,000
11
6
11
0
4
3
31
5
1
72
R 6,881,000
R 4,208,000
R 8,344,000
1.
2.
R 7,871,000
R 11,023,000
R 8,648,000
R 1,851,000
R 11,663,000
R 7,587,000
The highest average turnovers per outlet were recorded in the Limpopo and
North West provinces, both of whom had been relatively under-serviced in
previous years and showed above average growth rates since 2008.
Gauteng remained the province generating the largest share of turnover,
followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Figure 110 Year-on-year turnover change: Academic booksellers 2008 and 2011:
2011 / 2008
2011 / 2008
Academic sub-sector turnover
Western Cape
Eastern Cape
KwaZulu-Natal
Northern Cape
Free State
North West
Gauteng
Mpumalanga
Limpopo
All provinces
No of outlets
%
9
2
2
1
1
1
5
0
1
22
10.4%
14.5%
-0.3%
-1.2%
8.1%
0.5%
5.0%
40.1%
3.9%
1. No province experienced a net loss in the number of sales outlets, and all but
KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State recorded positive annual turnover growth
rates.
2. The rates were particularly high in Limpopo province and the Eastern Cape.
P a g e | 75
7 Final remarks
1.
2.
3.
4.
To record the dynamics of the book retail industry, the survey should ideally be
conducted annually, but at least every second year. After a number of surveys,
researchers will be able to accurately record the broad trends in the industry.
This survey needs to be put in the broader perspective of the entire South
African book industry, as the majority of schoolbooks bypass the book retail
industry and are sold directly to educational institutions and provincial
departments. The relationship between this survey and the annual industry
survey conducted by the Publishers’ Association of South Africa (PASA) needs
to be explored.
An in-depth survey relating the sale of all categories of books to the socioeconomic factors which drive such sales will greatly enhance our understanding
of the South African book industry.
Also valuable would be studies on book readership and book buying, and the
demographic, educational, economic and cultural factors that influence
readership and book buying behaviour.
The researcher trusts that the industry will derive value from the survey and be
prepared to fund future surveys and research on this fascinating industry.
Willem Struik
September 2012

Book Retail Industry Report Final 2011

Transcription

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