Online Book Sales to Double Over the Next Five Years, Report Predicts
Online retail book sales will nearly double over the next five years, according to "U.S. eCommerce Overview: 2003 to 2008," a report recently released by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Forrester Research. Overall, the study predicted, e-commerce will experience a 19 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years, from $95.7 billion to just under $230 billion and will account for 10 percent of total U.S. retail sales by 2008.
Kim Dickie, the new owner of Hobbit Hall Children's Bookstore in Roswell, Georgia, sees plenty of room for growth in an arena small booksellers have largely left to others -- school book fairs. When Dickie took over the reins of the 12-year-old bookstore from Anne Ginkle in March 2003, the school book fair division was a growing component of the store.