1. Book market research in Ukraine
24 November 2006
Research initiated and supported by the International Renaissance Foundation, the Fund for Central and East European Book Project (Amsterdam) and the MATRA program of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2. Project background
The project «Book market research» is a part of the Ukrainian Book Trade Project ( ).
The research was initiated and funded by the International Renaissance, Fund for Central and East European Book Projects, Amsterdam and the MATRA program of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The research is effected by GfK Ukraine ( selected based on the results of the tender run in spring of 2006 involving five marketing companies.
The comprehensive research of the Ukrainian book market consists of the three parts and the following tasks:
To find out what share of Ukrainian population buys books, and what motives are behind these purchases;
To investigate books distribution channels;
To analyse differences among buyers by distribution channels and socio-demographic characteristics;
To study seasonal fluctuations on the book market;
To gather and analyse information about publishers, retailers and wholesalers, operating on the market of Ukraine.

3. 1
Method and sample

4. Method and sample Research type: Regular study “Omnibus”
Method: F2F interviews at respondent home
Sample size: interviews with respondents aged y. o. (people aged account for 62.1% of the total population of Ukraine and is the most active part of consumers)
Respondent
recruitment
method: Random route selection
Survey timing: From 12 till 27 September 2006
Project manager: Tetiana Illiashenko
Tel.: (+044)

5. Book shoppers in Ukraine2
Book shoppers in Ukraine

6. Key findings: Book buyers in Ukraine
Overall, 42% of respondents (aged years old) themselves have bought at least 1 book over the past 3 months.
Women buy books more often than men: 51% of women bought at least 1 book, while a share of book buyers among men reached 33% only.
The share of book buyers among comparatively younger population aged years old amounted to 47%, while among people aged years old this indicator is 36%.
Accordingly, schoolchildren and students (52%) as well as housewives (47%) are the most frequent books buyers. Employed respondents buy books somewhat less often (44%). The smallest share of book buyers is observed among pensioners, being only 21%.
Furthermore, the respondents having children under 15 years old in the household also tend to buy books somewhat more often (53%) than those from childless households (34%).
Settlement size: the smallest share of book buyers is reported in the rural area (35%), while the average share of book buyers among urbanites reaches 45%. Differences in book shopping levels among cities of different sizes are not statistically significant.
Region: the share of book buyers is the lowest in the Central and Northern regions. Differences among other regions are not statistically significant.
Over the past three months, the overwhelming majority of book buyers bought from 2 to 5 books (50%), another 37% of respondents bought one book only. On average, women tend to buy more books than men. Also, more books are bought by relatively younger people.
Reasons for not buying books:
The most often stated reason is no need for books / no interest in books, with this reason being stated by half of respondents who did not buy books over the past 3 months. Interestingly, this share does not undergo any substantial changes by different age groups. This reason was mentioned by 47% in the youngest category (15-19 years old) and 46% in the oldest age category (50-59 years old).
Lack of money is the second most frequently mentioned reason — overall, 19% of respondents stated not being able to afford books, another 11% said that the book they wanted to buy was too expensive. It is noteworthy that the respondents from older age groups (40-59 years old) complain about the lack of money a bit more often than younger people.

7. Have you bought books over the past 3 months?
Book buyers in Ukraine
Have you bought books over the past 3 months?
Share of book buyers: age
Share of book buyers: gender
Share of book buyers: employment
Note: red arrows mark statistically significant differences among groups at the level of 10%

8. Book buyers in Ukraine: region and settlement type
Share of book buyers: types of settlement
Share of book buyers: regions
Note: red arrows mark statistically significant differences among groups at the level of 10%

9. Average number of books bought over the past 3 months
How many books have you bought over past 3 months?
% of book shoppers
Average number of books bought over the past 3 months
Women
3,5
Men
3,0
Overall
3,3
15-19 years old
3,4
20-29 years old
3,5
30-39 years old
3,6
40-49 years old
3,2
50-59 years old
2,9
Note: no statistically significant differences by age and gender were observed

10. Why haven’t you bought books over the past 3 months
Why haven’t you bought books over the past 3 months? % of respondents who haven’t bought books over the past 3 months
Major reasons for books non-purchase
% of respondents in each age group

11. What books Ukrainians buy3
What books Ukrainians buy

12. Key findings: Books bought by Ukrainians
The overwhelming majority of respondents bought books only for personal use/ for their family — 76%. Meanwhile, only 4% bought books solely as a gift.
Types of books:
Ukrainians most often bought fiction — 39% of book buyers noted that the most recent book they bought belongs to this category. The share of fiction buyers is noticeably higher among comparatively older people — 44% for people over 30 years old comparatively to 33% for younger book buyers.
22% of respondents bought academic or science books, another 6% bought dictionaries and encyclopedias. Such a high share can be explained by seasonal factors, since the survey was run at the beginning of the academic year. The most active buyers in this category of books are young people aged — 46% of people in this age group bought science books, another 10% respondents bought encyclopedias/dictionaries/atlases. For other age categories, the share of buyers of science books makes around 18%.
19% bought children's books. Buyers of this category of books are mostly women aged from 20 up to 40 years old.
Books that non-fiction books (popular science books, biographies, historic literature, cooking books, etc.) were purchased by 14% of respondents. The share of buyers of this category of books is a bit higher among men (17%) than among women (12%).
Language:
60% of books bought by Ukrainians over the past 3 months were in Russian. The share of Ukrainian-language books amounted to 38%, another 2% of books were published in another foreign language.
At the same time, almost half of Ukrainians (49%) during this period bought books only in Russian, another 26% bought books both in Ukrainian and Russian, 26% bought Ukrainian books only.
Books bought in Ukrainian are for most part academic/science books (50% of respondents whose recently bought book was from this category noted it was in Ukrainian) and children's books (56% of respondents). Only 35% of fiction/poetry buyers bought these books in Ukrainian.

13. Your most recently bought book
Note:* Excluding secondary schoolbooks
** The category includes popular science, historic literature, biographies, how-to books, cooking books, etc.

14. Your most recently bought book: split by gender and age
Fiction / poetry
Children's book
Other non-fiction book
Encyclopedia / dictionary/ atlas
Academic / science book

15. Price of your most recently bought book
What was the price of your most recently bought book?
% of book shoppers
Average price of the most recently bought book
Fiction book
15.4 UAH
Academic/ science book
17.3 UAH
Children‘s book
12.4 UAH
Other non-fiction book
24.1 UAH
Dictionary/ encyclopedia/ atlas, etc.
31.9 UAH
Total
17.4 UAH
Note: no statistically significant differences by categories of books

16. What language were books you bought?
What language did you buy books over the past 3 months?
% of book buyers
Distribution of the total number of books bought by language, % of books

17. Types of books: distribution by language
What language was your most recent book in?
Note:* Excluding secondary schoolbooks
** The category includes popular science, historic literature, biographies, how-to books, cooking books, etc.

18. Language of books: split by regions
What language was your most recent book in?

19. Information sources about books
Why did you buy your most recent book, what encouraged you to buy it?
The overwhelming majority of shoppers look for books themselves or take their friends’ advice
Only 5% of respondents stated that they took advice of bookstore assistants
Only 7% took into consideration any book reviews/top-list

20. Can you always find a book you search for
Can you always find a book you search for? % of respondents who have bought books over the past 3 months

21. 4
Books shopping places

22. Key findings: Books shopping places
The most popular shopping place for books still remains bookstores, where during the past 3 months 61% of people purchased books. Another 12% of book shoppers bought them in book supermarkets. In bookstores and supermarkets, they for the most part buy children’s books, as well as science/academic books.
The second most popular place come to be street book stalls and other public places (subway, railway stations, etc.), where 29% of respondents bought books. The most often bought types of books on street stalls include fiction, with science/academic books bought a bit less often.
12% of respondents bought books through book clubs, where they largely bought fiction or other types of books, not belonging to fiction.
4% of respondents noted that bought books in regular supermarkets — these are for the most part women, who bought books for children.
2% of shoppers ordered books directly from producers, these are for the most part buyers of academic and science books.
No significant differences in terms of the most often used books shopping places were observed by region and settlement size.

23. Shopping place of the most recently bought books over the past 3 months
Note: * On a stall in the street, in a railway station, in a hospital, etc.
** In a book fair, ordered directly from the publisher, etc.

24. Shopping place: split by type of book
Where did you buy your most recent book?
Note:* On a stall in the street, in a railway station, in a hospital, etc.
** In a book fair, ordered directly from the publisher, etc.

25. Appendix І: Questionnaire

26. Questionnaire (1)
В1 How many books have you personally bought for yourself or for other people in the past three months? When we talk about books, we think of all book in any language, including children's and academic books, except for primary and secondary schoolbooks.
В2 Have you bought books for yourself and your family or as a gift for others in the past three months?
В3 Of the books you said you had bought personally in the past three months, how many were in Russian, Ukrainian, other (foreign) languages?
В4 What genre was your most recently bought book?
В5 What language was your most recently bought book?
В6 Please look at the list and tell us where you have bought books over the past three months? Please think of all books you have personally bought in the past three months.
В7 Where did you buy your most recent book?
В8 What was the approximate price of your most recently bought book?
В9 What were the reason to buy the recent book; what motivated you to purchase it?
В10 Can you always find a book you search for? In not, please estimated how often you enter a bookstore searching for a particular book or contents and cannot find such?

27. Questionnaire (2)
Questions for respondents who have not bought any books over the past three months:
В11 What was the reason you have not bought any books over the past three months? Were there any other reasons? If yes, which ones? (open-ended question)
В12 What could generally make you buy books, or buy them more often? (open-ended question)