State of Bookselling 2020

Thank you for dedicating some time to fill out this survey. This survey asks booksellers in Canada questions about their businesses and experiences in the book industry supply chain, focusing on independent bookstores in the trade market. Please be as forthcoming as possible, your answers will enable data-driven decision-making across the industry and inform all those interested in the state of bookselling in Canada. BookNet Canada will send all participants an advance digital copy of the study before the public release in the fall.

Sections:
Introduction
About you and your bookstore
Systems
Ordering, returns, and operations
Marketing and promotions
Financial sections
Operating expenses
Revenue/sales and profit
COVID-19
Big picture
Conclusion

How your data is used:
Personal identifying information (name, email, store/company, and role) is gathered for follow up and response tracking, and is not shared outside of BookNet Canada. Data will only be released in aggregate form and all responses will be kept completely anonymous. You can read more in our Privacy Policy here.

Instructions:
Please provide as much information as possible and to the best of your ability.
● For some sections, in particular the financial section, you will need your Income Statements from both 2020 and 2019 (via your accounting software).
● You will also need access to your POS system for various analytics.
● When asked about figures from 2020, use the data you have that begin nearest to January 1, 2020 and end nearest to December 31, 2020 (1/1/20 – 12/31/20).
● When asked for specific numbers, provide round numbers (for percentages or dollar amounts) unless otherwise indicated. Examples and details for answering are provided in italics under questions.
● When asked questions about physical brick-and-mortar stores, answer using one location even if you have multiple locations.

Bookmanager users: You can obtain the information needed for some of the questions below from your store’s Analytics dashboard. See the sample screenshot below. (Copy or Save the image to reference it.)
● In the top left, make sure that the ‘Beginning’ and ‘Ending’ dates are set to get 2020 data: Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020 (1/1/20 – 12/31/20) — or as close as possible to those dates.
● Set output to ‘Dollars’.
● You may need to make changes to the settings under the ‘Section’ and ‘Cust Type’ filters to answer some questions.

Question Title

Sample screenshot

You can change your answers during and after submitting the survey.
● Almost every question is optional.
● You can skip what you do not know and return to those questions later. All responses you have provided will be saved.
● If you want to go back to a prior page in the survey, use the "Back" and "Next" buttons on the bottom of the survey page.
● Use one device to fill out the survey for your bookstore. A partially completed survey cannot be finished using a different device than the one you started with.
● Using the same device, you can reload the survey URL and will be able to see your saved responses starting from the beginning of the survey.

If you need help, email research@booknetcanada.ca.