International report on book-buying trends

How does Australia compare to other countries in terms of book purchasing habits?
A photo of a bookshelf full of books.

A co-venture from the EIBF (European and International Booksellers Federation) and RISE Bookselling (Resilience, Innovation and Sustainability for the Enhancement of Bookselling) has recently released a report: ‘Study on Consumer Behaviour – Booking-buying Trends, Reading Habits and Customer Needs.’

It’s the first comprehensive study of its kind and compares the book-buying market across 19 territories, across the US, Europe and Oceania, with a mission to “guide and support booksellers through the sharing of data, research and best practices across national borders”.

This three-year project was handled by Belgian market research company, Listen, and presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Countries represented include: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

The study highlights the results for a specific country against the overall average results of those surveyed. Its remit was to offer a snapshot of the buying and reading habits in each location, as well as a chance for comparison between the markets. 

The presentation of ‘Consumer Behaviour’ at Frankfurt Book Fair.

‘Consumer Behaviour’ says in its introduction that it “takes into consideration that globalisation and the digital revolution have undoubtedly changed the way people purchase and consume goods, including books, thus transforming today’s retail environment and customers’ buying habits…”

Samples of around 500 respondents were collected from each contributing country, with 9500 people surveyed in total, with an age range between 18 and 55+.

Drilling down to UK-specific statistics, the report notes that a majority of British respondents have read (85%) and purchased (72%) a book in the past 12 months, placing them on par with the 19-country average of 85% and 72% respectively.

The traditional physical book remains the preferred format, although ebooks and audiobooks are more popular here compared to the study average.

As with the other countries studied, fiction dominates the book-buying cohort across all sales channels at 69%, followed by biographies and memoirs (29%). Most British respondents purchase from both online (11%) and from brick-and-mortar stores (10%) with 79% moving between both for their book purchases.

Similar statistics worldwide reveal that buyers are not averse to buy secondhand books (51% of Brits shop at secondhand bookshops), but the new book market is the predominant preference. Another interesting finding is that 79% of Brits are likely to give a book as a gift.

When asked why they enjoy purchasing in independent bookstores, the top three Uk responses are: “Convenient place”, “the ease in buying” and the “enjoyable atmosphere”.

For more information on RISE Bookselling and the EIBF.



Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian. She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025). Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy