Preferences for online bookstores among Romanian readers

Abstract

In 2020, as Statista published in 2022, over two billion people purchased goods or services online, and during the same year, e-retail sales surpassed 4.2 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide. These numbers are possible thanks to a wide internet access and the digitalization of the retail landscape and the convenience online shopping provides to the customers. The book industry considered a traditional one faces also a considerable digital transformation of the business models and customers benefit as a consequence of a variety of products, lower prices and convenience, as they can buy from all over the country. The present paper is the first of one trilogy that explores the preferences for bookstores among the Romanian readers, namely the preferences for online bookstores. The authors applied an online questionnaire to a non-probabilistic sample of 493 respondents, who had to express their preferences by providing points on a 5-point Likert scale. The main findings of the study reveal that: the cheaper online price is considered, the more respondents evaluate online buying as more convenient. Also the general public tends to present higher levels of pragmatism, browsing books in bookstores and buying them online.As the Romanian book market and in particular the bookstore businesses are barely studied, this paper is worthy for both academic and business environments.