A new report by the non-profit industry group BookNet Canada finds more and more people are buying e-book, and when they do purchase hardcovers and paperbacks they are increasingly getting them outside of conventional book stores.
The trends are outlined in a first-of-its-kind report by BookNet, which is based on several consumer surveys conducted over the first half of the year. The results are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
'The sheer volume and the amount of change that's happened in the last couple of years is a big surprise'—Noah Genner, BookNet CEO
"We were a little taken aback — even though we are in the industry and on the technology side of the industry — at just the sheer quantity of the shift in behaviour in regards to digital and online [shopping]," said BookNet CEO Noah Genner.
"We all knew it was happening ... but just the sheer volume and the amount of change that's happened in the last couple of years is a big surprise."
The report suggests one in three Canadians is a regular book buyer and purchases an average of 2.8 titles per month.
While e-book sales are growing, print sales still dominate, with paperbacks representing an estimated 56.7 per cent of the market and hardcovers making up 23.6 per cent.
Only seven per cent of readers said they bought both e-book and print books, but they bought more titles overall — an average of 4.5 per month.

When it came to where purchases were made, only about a third were in book stores. About 27.5 per cent of purchases were online and about 30 per cent were at non-book retailers, including big box stores and grocery stores.