Buying books in Saudi Arabia (and around the world)

From this report, you’ll learn where, when and why Saudis buy books and which country earned the title of the most reading nation.

Throughout history, since the invention of printing, books have been one of the most important sources of information about the surrounding world. Although now the Internet has taken the lead, books continue to be the source of not only knowledge but also ideas and inspiration.

The World Book and Copyright Day established by UNESCO has been celebrated for just several decades. This relatively new holiday served as an inspiration for Picodi.com Analysis Team to check how, when, why and whether at all Saudis buy books and how readers feel about literature.

When we buy books

The considerable number of online bookstores is the best evidence that Saudis buy books. Dry statistics show that the demand for books in online bookstores rises the most in November (15% of all annual transactions). During the most important online sale time of the year, Black Friday, books are not the most popular products. Nevertheless, the increased activity of internet users translates into online bookstores’ turnover, which makes November the busiest time of the year. A significant decrease in the interest is noted in January and April (6% each).

What makes us buy books

We conducted a survey among Saudis to learn how they buy books. We did not try to determine the number of people who read. The most important purpose of our study is to understand consumer trends in the area of literature.

From where do Saudis get books? 36% declared that they buy books in bookstores. Borrowing from libraries is less popular (only 7%), as is borrowing from friends (18%). The remaining 39% admitted that they don’t read much or are not interested in books at all.

We asked the question: “Did you buy at least one book last year?” — the answer was positive for 71% of women and 49% of men. These respondents were our target group — we asked them questions about preferred types of books, place of purchase and favourite genres.

Buying books in the form of audiobooks is getting more popular with every passing year. However, in Saudi Arabia, audiobooks still don’t get a lot of recognition. Over the past year, digital or CD audiobooks were bought by 4% of respondents. It’s paper books that are the most popular among Saudi readers. 49% of respondents ordered books online and 47% bought books in brick and mortar stores.

Most of the time people buy books because of friends’ recommendations (49%). Own tastes and decisions also play a big part (44%), as do the releases of movies based on the book (16%) and book prize nominations (19%). In light of the growing popularity of the Internet and social media, bloggers’ reviews also play an important role (26%). Bargain price was chosen as the determining factor by 40% of the surveyed. It’s an important aspect in view of the fact that 25% of the respondents think that book prices are excessive. 40% declared that the prices are acceptable.

Why do Saudis buy books? Most of them do it because they simply love reading (47%). One fifth (21%) buy books for studies or work and 12% as a gift. 20% of respondents declared that the act of buying books is a stress remedy for them (we decided not to ask whether they actually read these books).

The most popular genres

Most readers choose fiction (70%). Well liked among Saudis are also hobbies literature and scientific literature (37% and 28% respectively).

There’s nothing surprising in the fact that the readers prefer fiction over non-fiction books. The wide range of genres to choose from makes it easier for readers around the world to find something they will like. Among the most popular genres are thrillers, historical, crime, romance and adventure literature. Poetry and comics are the least favourite ones.

A majority of people (58%) buy books occasionally — a few times a year. 26% of respondents are willing to buy books once a month.

Most of the surveyed (74%) are content with the books available on the market. 26% of respondents are of the opinion that Arabic publishing houses do not publish enough titles.

The least reading nation?

It should be stressed that the purpose of our study is not to determine the most reading nation in the world. However, we can identify countries where books are bought the most frequently. These are Turkey, Russia and Spain. Saudi Arabia placed quite low as only 60% of people bought at least one book over the past year. Behind Saudi Arabia were countries like the UAE, Germany or Singapore.

Buying books gets even better when they can be bought with cashback. If you order your books in AliExpress, uBuy or Amazon, you’ll get some of the money spent back through cashback.

Methodology

This report is based on the internal data of a global e-commerce platform Picodi.com regarding transactions in online bookstores and a survey conducted in March 2019 among 7800 respondents from 41 countries.

Sources

• https://www.un.org/en/events/bookday/
• https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/saudi-arabia/category/books-and-literature/book-retailers
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamrowe1/2018/08/31/audiobooks-are-officially-the-publishing-industrys-2018-trend/#1f0848465e8f

Public Use

Are you willing to share the information and infographics about buying books in Saudi Arabia and around the world with your readers? Feel free to use all the data and infographics presented in this report for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage.