Digital book clubs as a bookselling business

: a study of portuguese book consumers´ perceptions and intention to adopt

Abstract

Book clubs have existed in the society for centuries and the appearance of the Internet allowed them to expand to the digital. Currently, many digital book clubs are more than a simple reading group where people get together to discuss books online. It is possible for digital book clubs’ curators to create a bookselling business by associating an online shop to the club where they sell the books of the month directly to club’s members, allowing curators to monetize their suggestions. Motivated by the expansion of this type of business abroad and recent introduction in the Portuguese market, this study proposes to identify Portuguese book consumers’ perceptions and intention to adopt.For this purpose, the founder of the biggest digital book club in Portugal was interviewed to gather insights about the business, 12 in-depth interviews with book consumers were conducted, and an online questionnaire was distributed, resulting in 464 valid answers. Among the participants there were both customers and non-customers of a digital book club to identify the drivers and barriers to join one.The curator’s recommendations, the desire to be part of a community, to read different books, to read more books, and the possibility to subscribe a monthly book box are the drivers which lead book consumers to become customers. The lack of time to participate in book discussions, dissatisfaction with recommendations, unawareness about the business and available options in the market, and lack of time spent reading prevent book consumers from becoming customers.

Date of Award	2 Feb 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Daniel Fernandes (Supervisor) & Miguel Rita (Co-Supervisor)