Give or Take reveals shoppers are buying DIY and ‘How To’ books to tackle the credit crunch.

Consumers have been buying less fiction and more ‘How To’ and DIY books since the start of the credit crunch according to recent research by cashback shopping site, www.giveortake.com

Give or Take’s findings have identified two trends emerging in book buying this year. The first is that consumers are buying fewer books purely for entertainment, with overall spending on books down 73% since January at the site’s most popular store, Amazon.

The second trend is that the majority of books being ordered are ‘books with a purpose’ that aim to teach or enhance skills in areas such as DIY, computers and the internet, management and business, home cooking and diet books, foreign languages and self-help.

Whilst these books cover many different categories, what they have in common is that all offer ways consumers can improve various aspects of their lives, and often they aim to teach them skills to do jobs that they would normally have to pay other people to do for them.

The research suggests that whilst shoppers are choosing to save money by buying fewer books purely for pleasure, they are willing to invest in books that can potentially provide financial, professional and personal benefits.

‘Some consumers are clearly taking positive steps to respond to the credit crunch,’ says Kathryn Vere, Manager of www.giveortake.com. ‘They are honing in on books that can help them save money, enhance their quality of life or increase their employment prospects.’

About Give or Take

www.giveortake.com is a shopping website that gives consumers the opportunity to earn cashback on all their online purchases at over 900 stores, on average around 10% of the purchase price. Book stores available through Give or Take include Amazon, Waterstones, BooksDirect, WHSmith, Blackwell and Penguin.