2008 ABACUS Survey Data Gathering Begins

Bookstore members of the American Booksellers Association can now begin submitting 2007 financial data to the 2008 ABACUS Study via a secure and confidential electronic survey form on BookWeb.org. Data gathering for this year's study is beginning more than a full month earlier than in 2007 at the suggestion of ABA's Booksellers Advisory Council, which felt that an earlier launch would increase the number of participants. The study experienced a sharp decline in participation from 2006 to 2007, after three years of steady increases.

"To ensure the continued viability of the ABACUS Study, we will need to see a significant increase in the number of businesses submitting data to this year's survey," said ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz. "The reliability of the study's overall results and our ability to provide in-depth analysis depend on the number of participants."

ABACUS, which was relaunched by ABA six years ago, provides each participant with a customized analysis of the business' financial results that can be used to evaluate and improve store performance. Individual store reports include comparisons with other businesses based on more than 20 different criteria; an executive summary of the study's key findings; key insights into the drivers of independent bookstore profitability; year-to-year trends data; and opportunities to participate in ancillary studies. In addition, data from all ABACUS participants is used in the aggregate to produce a yearly Review that is available to all ABA member stores. Insight into average industry spending-per-store across multiple categories -- such as cost of goods, rent, and staffing -- provides booksellers with a better chance of making sound financial decisions that can help increase the bottom line.

ABACUS also provides valuable information that is used to formulate the association's education curriculum, offered free to member booksellers at BookExpo America, the Winter Institute, and other venues.

Participating booksellers also receive a $50 rebate.

For most booksellers, completing the easy-to-use ABACUS Survey form will take about an hour. An Excel spreadsheet allows booksellers to organize the information from their financial statements so that it matches the categories on the ABACUS form. All information provided to the ABACUS study is kept strictly confidential.

The deadline for submission of data for the 2008 study is Friday, August 15. Booksellers with questions about the survey should contact Domnitz at [email protected].