Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - UK
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August 31, 2006
Google Book Search Drives Visits to Book Retailers and Attracts Low Income Seniors
Yesterday's announcement that Google would offer free downloads of out-of-print books from Google Book Search sparked much debate among publishers and book sellers are threatening to sue.
Hitwise data reveals that the top downstream site from Google Book Search UK was Amazon UK receiving 8.3% of the sites visits last week. Bill (our GM of Global Research) did some analysis of this in October and found a similar pattern in the US. Last week, 15.93% of downstream visits from Google Book Search UK went to websites in the Hitwise Shopping and Classifieds - Books category. The following table shows the top 10 downstream Books sites last week.
As Bill found in October, Google Book Search may be facilitating sales of Books.
Also interesting, I looked at the demographic and lifestyle profile of visitors to Google Book Search UK. One quarter (24.91%) of visitors to the site in the past four weeks were 55+. The 55+ age group was 69% more likely to be on Google Book Search than average for the UK internet population.
Through a partnership with Experian, Hitwise is able to provide a Mosaic profile of visitors to websites. We can report on profiles of website visitors by 11 Groups or 61 Types. The Types that are most highly over-represented on Google Book Search UK are really interesting as they represent young uni students and the elderly.
- Low Income Elderly: Elderly people living in low rise council housing, often on low incomes.
- University Challenge: Undergraduate students living in halls of residence or close to universities.
- Sepia Memories. Very elderly people of independent means who have moved to modest apartments suitable for their needs.
Whilst the debate will rage on, a better understanding of the audience and their behaviours may help ease some of the concerns among book retailers and publishers.
Posted by Heather Hopkins at 12:00 PM
Posted to Shopping and Classifieds
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Comments
Looks like google is shooting to be the "all in one" company.
Posted by: Xena at September 1, 2006 11:40 PM
Thank you for your information,
I have looked on and off for years for information about, what should be arguably, one of the most famous books in the world?
The Saccharine Disease
T.L. Cleve
Keats Publishing
Without any result on most book-searchs including B&N
Google returned a considerable amount of information second try?
Book sellers who use computers are no better than computer users who sell books and have to move over and make way for Google
Thank you
Posted by: Alan James at February 5, 2007 11:39 AM
