A study by Roy Morgan shows Australians are buying more books online than they were three years ago.
The study was conducted in any given four-week period with 8.7 million Australians older than 14 years old buying something online last year. In 2016, more than 2 million Australians bought reading material online compared to 2013 where 1.7 million Australians bought reading materials online.
Reading material was the third most popular item Australians are buying online below fashion and entertainment and leisure.
These figures come from the Roy Morgan study, Amazon set to benefit from Australians’ love affair with online shopping.
[Related: Teenagers snub ebooks, prefer print]
Kellie Northwood, executive director, TSA limited says, “The marriage between online book stores and physical books is common as is print with digital. The merge between print and DM whether it is a call to act via SMS or call to act for a website address on a brochure, with online retail stores this is an example of print and digital working hand in hand.”
Norman Morris, industry communications director, Roy Morgan Research says, “The data is unequivocal: Australians can not get enough of shopping online. In any given four-week period, more and more of us are purchasing products as diverse as clothing, food, reading matter, health and beauty products, furniture, and electronics via the internet.”
A recent study by Murdoch University lecturer Margaret Merga, showed printed books are much better for childhood literacy development than e-books and electronic devices.
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