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The internet will be the main retail channel for book sales in Britain within three years, despite accounting for only 14% of current sales, consumer research group PubTrack has estimated.
Last year marked the first time internet sales in the US edged above all other channels. Some 23% of books were bought online compared with 22% through the chains. In Britain, chains made up more than one-third of the market. The figures come from a report compiled by US-based PubTrack and the UK's Book Marketing Limited (BML).
PubTrack vice-president, publishers services, Kelly Gallagher said: "If you consider that even five years ago, internet sales comprised an estimated 5% of the market, it's grown at an exponential rate. It'll continue to grow at the expense of all the other markets." He added: "Britain is behind the US by about three years—that's when the internet will come into the dominant position."
Gallagher highlighted the importance the internet played in advertising books, with online content and adverts accounting for twice as much as print reviews. He added: "Online advertising is outpacing print three-to-one."
In the UK and US, independent and religious booksellers combined made up 9% of the market. But in Britain, supermarkets had a bigger slice of the pie, making up 14% of sales, compared with 8% in the US.