Despite campaigns to reuse books, 90% of Portuguese people buy new school books, according to a survey carried out by Observador Cetelem.
With the theme "Return to School 2017", the Portuguese were asked about how to purchase school books, offering a set of multiple choices. The option most often mentioned by families (90%) is the purchase of textbooks firsthand, followed by the purchase of secondhand books (18%) and, finally, the option of borrowing from family and friends (12% ).
On the other hand, the purchase of school books tends to be done at the same time as the rest of the material.
The preference for new textbooks is a trend that has been observed for some years, stresses the Observador Cetelem.
The number of those who say they resort to second-hand manuals this year is almost the same compared to 2016. There is, however, a decrease compared to 2016 among those who will borrow books from family and friends.
Among adult students, the number of those wishing to purchase second-hand books has been increasing (47%). This is a predisposition that has been consolidated over the past few years, although 72% also plan to buy new books. 35% also say they will borrow from friends and family.
“Most manuals for children and young people are subject to a certain type of use, many are both theoretical and practical, with the resolution of exercises in the manual itself. This makes it difficult to use by more than one person and justifies the preference for new books, and with the introduction of free books in the first cycle, a reversal in this trend can be verified. In the case of adults who study, the use of books is different and makes it easier to share or borrow the manual», says Pedro Camarinha, distribution director at Cetelem.
When returning to school in 2017, Portuguese families plan to spend 393 euros, less than in previous years.
Stationers (81%) continue to be the preferred place to purchase school supplies, followed by large supermarkets (70%).
However, more and more Portuguese people purchase school material online, and this year (43%) the figure almost doubled compared to 2016 (22%).
There are also more people expressing their intention to use the credit card (36%). The Portuguese forecasts point to credit card spending in the order of 312 euros, up from 236 euros in 2016.
The Cetelem Back to School 2017 Observer is based on a representative sample of 600 individuals residing in Mainland Portugal, of both genders and aged between 18 and 65 years.
These were interviewed by telephone, with information collected through a structured questionnaire of closed questions. The field work was carried out by the market research company Nielsen, between the 11th and 15th of May, and a maximum error of +4,0 for a 95% confidence interval.
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