Retail sales tracking data from Nielsen BookScan will be combined with the information Kantar Worldpanel collects about book purchases, sourced from some 15,000 panellists. Kantar’s data includes consumer demographics, purchase price, format and reasons for buying.

Trade publication The Bookseller will be among the first to publish the combined data.

BookScan commercial director Ann Betts said: “Combining consumer research with our sales tracking data will give a richer and deeper view of the book market and answer some of the key questions that people in the book world have been asking about e-books.”