Mosaiq previews 2013 Sports Card Collector Survey
By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor
Who collects cards?
We all have an idea of the “collector” – how they collect, what they want and what they are buying. But the truth might be different from perception. Mosaiq, a market research group, has conducted a study to find some of these answers.
The company will reveal their research findings from the 2013 Sports Card Collector Survey at the Industry Summit next week in Las Vegas. However, a preview of the presentation has revealed interesting trends in the hobby.
One of the areas touched on was group breaks. This has been a hot topic in the industry with more and more group breakers popping up. There is an article on group breaks in the current Beckett Sports Card Monthly.
“An interesting theme that has emerged is the profile of consumers who primarily buy into group breaks. The demographics are powerful…younger buyers, but more educated/higher income and they spend significantly more than consumers in other channels,” Mosaiq’s Lori Van Santen said in an email. “We also had a large portion of group break customers indicate that they are visiting brick & mortar BECAUSE they are buying into online breaks.”
So group breaks that happen online tend to create business offline, according to the data.
But what seems to be most surprising is the amount of people buying trading cards. With all the doom and gloom of the trading card industry and articles about the business dying, there can’t possibly be good news.
On the contrary, Mosaiq discovered 31 percent of the population bought trading cards in the last 12 months and 24 percent bought sports cards. About half of those buying sports cards say they have bought them for someone else.
“So there is definitely a big difference between ‘purchasers’ and ‘collectors’ and I’m not really sure manufacturers and retailers are thinking like that,” Van Santen said.
Mosaiq gives its full presentation on Monday at the Industry Summit.
Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here. Follow Beckett Media on Facebook and Twitter.
Ms. Van Santen is right on one point. There sure is a difference between “purchasers” and “collectors.”