About SalesData Reports

Owned by Krista Mitchell (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jan 31, 2017 by Monique Mongeon (Unlicensed)Version comment
6 min read

Bestseller Report  |  Single ISBN Report  |  Multiple ISBN Report  |  Market Comparison Report  |  Market Share Report  |  Gap Analysis Report  |  Saved Reports

Bestseller Report

What it is: A Bestseller Report shows how titles are selling in the overall market or at specific retailers. You can view sales in a given time frame with options to narrow your report by criteria like subject category, format, pub date, and price range, or you can view sales for a specific title or list of authors, titles, or ISBNs. 

What it isn't: SalesData is not a complete history of all sales of all books across Canada for all time. SalesData launched in October 2005 with a select retail panel that has grown and changed over time, much like the book marketplace as a whole. Sales data is not a reliable predictor of the future performance of a writer or their work.

Who should use it:

  • publishers, distributors, sales agents, and wholesalers who want to see how titles are selling in the market to inform reprint or shipping decisions
  • publishers who are reviewing a category that is new to them, for price point or format analysis
  • retailers or librarians who are trying to build out a category in their store or a subject area in their library
  • retailers who are providing a provincial or store breakdown and who want to do some regional analysis on the data outside the system
  • literary agents who want to understand an author's full body of work regardless of publisher

Features: 

  • reports can be run for the whole market or by specific retailers
  • advanced search criteria includes: Canadian titles; titles with illustrations or bibliographic data; units sold; list price; pub date; format; subject category; and by author/publisher/imprint/distributor
  • search by single or multiple ISBNs
  • stock turn in multi-week reports
  • % sell-through in single-week reports
  • BISAC subject analysis
  • title and contributor keyword searching
  • date of first sale and date of first on-hand

More on using Bestseller Reports.

Single ISBN Report

What it is: A Single ISBN Report provides a full bibliographic record and complete sales history for a title, either in the overall market, for a specific retailer, or for sales comparison among the retailers the account is permitted to see.

What it isn't: Data can be exported, but it is not an aggregate sales report.

Who should use it: 

  • anyone who wants to review the complete sales history for a title
  • publishers who want to compare week-over-week inventory and sales in one view
  • retailers who want to see who supplies a book or what the cover of the book looks like

Features:

  • review comparable sales across retailers in a week, in the context of year-to-date and lifetime sales, with additional information about date of first sale and date of first on-hand
  • allows a user to see if there have been any media appearances that might have influenced sales in a week

More on using Single ISBN Reports.

Multiple ISBN Report

What it is: A Multiple ISBN Report provides the sales for multiple ISBNs over time or across markets. You can provide a list of ISBNs, or search by author/contributor or title/subtitle/series.

What it isn't: A detailed overview of each ISBN with bibliographic data and charts, similar to the Single ISBN Report. However, you can generate a Single ISBN Report by clicking on any ISBN listed in a Multiple ISBN Report.

Who should use it: 

  • publishers or distributors who want to compare sales for a specific list of ISBNs
  • any user who wants to compare sales for multiple editions of the same title or by the same author
  • retailers who want to review how a publisher or distributor's recommendations fared from sale date

Features:

  • search by a specified list of ISBNs, by author/contributor, or by title/subtitle/series
  • compare sales for each ISBN in the overall market or in specific markets
  • view a snapshot of sales for your list of ISBNs over multiple time periods, including the current week, previous week, YTD, the last two years, and lifetime
  • click on any ISBN in the generated list to run a Single ISBN Report

More on using Multiple ISBN Reports.

Market Comparison Report ("Market Comp")

What it is: A Market Comparison Report allows you to select any number of markets you have access to, from the overall market down to specific stores, and compare their sales performance by subjects, formats, publishers, imprints, distributors, or over time. If you are a publisher, distributor or sales agent, the results will be restricted to your own sales.

What it isn't: Graphs. Data can be viewed in a table in the system or exported in an XLS or CSV file for offline analysis.

Who should use it: 

  • publishers and distributors who want to compare how their sales fare in different markets
  • publishers who want to understand how their imprints' sales fare in different markets
  • distributors who want to understand how their publishers' sales fare in different markets
  • retailers who want to compare how publishers, distributors, subjects, or formats fare in their store(s)
  • anyone who wants to compare their sales over multiple time periods

Features: 

  • select any combination of markets to compare, as long as you have access to them
  • highly customizable: choose any number of subjects, formats, publishers, imprints, or distributors to view units sold or value sold for your selected markets
  • run a report for any timeframe, from a particular week to a full year 

More on using Market Comparison Reports.

Market Share Report

What it is: A Market Share Report presents a view of the overall share of the Canadian market by a particular publisher, distributor, subject, or format. It can also provide quick lists of Top 500 publishers or distributors over time.

What it isn't: It does not offer a view of any market other than "All Markets".

Who should use it:

  • publishers and distributors who want to understand their % share of the overall market in a given timeframe for a specific category or format
  • publishers who want to understand their imprints' % share of their total sales
  • distributors who want to understand their publishers' % share of their total sales
  • retailers who want to compare how subject, formats, publishers or distributors are faring in the overall market
  • librarians who want to review % share of the market for different publishers or distributors by subject

Features:

  • see how a publisher or distributor performed by subject, format, or over time
  • see how a particular publisher's imprints performed by subject, format or over time
  • see how a particular distributor's publishers performed by subject, format or over time
  • see how a subject or format performed over time
  • view results in units sold or value sold
  • reporting periods range from a snapshot, consecutive weeks/months/quarters, to year-over-year

More on using Market Share Reports.

Gap Analysis Report

What it is: These three reports give you a quick way to look at selling and inventory gaps between markets. They are available to anyone who has access to more than one market. The Gap Analysis report will allow you to run the below three Gap Analysis report types.

Buying Gaps: Returns titles stocked and sold in a comparison market but not in your home or preferred market. This report can check for markets that might be missing out on title sales.

Inventory Performance: Returns titles sold in a comparison market but not sold in your home or preferred market even though they were stocked there. 

Bestseller Gaps: Returns bestselling titles in a comparison market and their sales and inventory numbers in your home or preferred market.

Retailers may recognize some of this reporting from BNC Prospector.

What it isn't: These reports are not available to SalesData users who do not have access to multiple markets. For publishers, distributors and sales agents, you must be able to compare to at least one retailer as well as the All Markets to see the data.

Who should use it: 

  • Publishers and distributors looking to identify under- or over-performing titles in specific markets they have access to. 
  • Retailers looking to identify titles selling well in the All Market but not stocked in their market. 
  • Retailers looking to identify under-performing inventory in their home market. 

Features:

  • Exposes gaps in units sold, OH and OO inventory.
  • On-demand analysis of inventory performance - no need to manually compare markets from other report types. 
  • Filtering available by units sold, pub date, and Publisher/Imprint/Distributor

More on using Gap Analysis Reports.

Saved Reports

What it is: You can create any of the above reports in the site just once, save the criteria, and arrange for the report to be sent to you (and others in your account, if you'd like) weekly. You can find and manage all your saved reports, as well as those that have been shared with you, in My Reports.

Features:

  • distribute saved report via email or simply share them for in-site access with other members of your organization

Learn More