Booksellers Urged to Participate in Important Post-Holiday Survey

On Tuesday, January 4, American Booksellers Association bookstore members received an e-mail from ABA CEO Oren Teicher with details regarding how they can participate in an important post-holiday survey of independent businesses. This is the fourth year that ABA has partnered with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and a number of other indie businesses groups in conducting the survey. (The e-mail’s subject line is “A Very Short Survey With a Very Big Payoff.”)

Teicher noted in his e-mail that “because of the strong participation of indie booksellers and other independent businesses, previous years' surveys have been a great success,” resulting in unique and important data about the viability of indie businesses and the effectiveness of “buy local first” initiatives. “I strongly urge members to take a few moments to help make this confidential survey a success, and we thank you very much for your participation,” Teicher said.

The short survey has two goals:

• To gauge how independent businesses are faring in today’s economy, and
• To assess whether people are more aware and supportive of locally owned, independent businesses.

The deadline for the survey is midnight PST on Tuesday, January 11.

Last year, more than 1,800 businesses completed the survey, and its findings were featured in more than 200 stories in local and national news media. Among other things, the survey showed that more holiday shoppers deliberately sought out locally owned businesses and that, once again, indie retailers in cities with active “Buy Local” or “Think Local First” campaigns reported stronger holiday sales than those in cities without such campaigns.

Teicher’s e-mail contained a link to the online survey, which should only take a few minutes to complete. He emphasized that the survey does not solicit the names of booksellers or their businesses, and only aggregate data will be viewed and released. All individual responses are completely private.

Among the independent business groups participating are the Alliance of Independent Media Stores, the American Independent Business Alliance, the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, the National Bicycle Dealers Association, and many other trade associations and local business groups.

Booksellers with questions about the survey can e-mail ABA Content Officer Dan Cullen.