The battle of the books!

            

When the internet was originally created in 1969 by the National Science Foundation, it was strictly for academic and military purposes with a strict ban on the use of it for commercial purposes.  Although the internet is still a widely used academic resource, in the mid 1990's it became very commercialized and has been extremely profitable for many industries and companies.  That was of course until the "dot com burst" in the late 90's.  Since that bubble burst the internet has undergone a transformation and has entered into the web 2.0 generation and commercial endeavors have taken off again with more knowledge of what it takes to be successful and with a wide array of new business models.

            One particular business model that has been very popular recently is the idea of the e-business pure play model.  A pure play business is simply one that is characterized by a full commitment to the internet, meaning that they are only found on the internet.  Many familiar pure play companies include Amazon, EBay, iTunes, and Netflix.  One company which implements the pure play strategy is iChapters.  iChapters is intriguing because of the service they offer.  They are a strictly online retailer of textbooks, etextbooks, echapters, and audio books.  Although this may seem similar to Amazon and other online book retailers, there are some significant differences.  One is in the use of business models.

            iChapters uses two separate business models as a source of revenue: merchant and manufacturer model.  Within the merchant model there are four different variations of a merchant, which are virtual, catalog, click and mortar, and a bit vendor.  A virtual merchant is an online retailer like iChapters.  A catalog merchant is one that is strictly catalog order while a click and mortar is a combination of traditional retail operations and online retailing as well.  Lastly, a bit vendor sells things downloadable products like software or music.

            A manufacturer model is similar to a merchant model in that they are still selling a product; however, they have cut out the middle man and distribution partners.  There are three different purchase options that help to characterize a manufacturer model.  A customer can either purchase directly, lease, or license products from the company.  The combination of these two models allows iChapters to turn revenue as a pure play e-business and provide customers with exceptional service and product selection.

 

Properly implementing the correct business model is crucial to ensuring success and longevity, regardless of what industry a company functions in or what manner they function in.  The textbook industry has become what some argue to be a monopoly as prices are extremely expensive, and until recently, the school bookstore was the only option to purchase textbooks.  Publishers set the price, the bookstore marks it up to make a profit, and in turn, my wallet suffers.  iChapters is one company offering an alternative to traditional textbook buying.  The company is able to do this by providing four textbook buying options, which also have the potential to save customers money.  How often, as a student, do you purchase an entire textbook, only to find out your professor is only using half of the book?  Why not buy half the chapters?  With iChapters you now have the ability to do this.

            iChapters utilizes a merchant model through traditional sales of textbooks and products.  Customers can order a traditional textbook at an advertised “up to 15% off”.  This would be just as if you were ordering a book from a more traditional online retailer such as Amazon or half.com.  Simply search for the textbook and proceed with the transaction, and then wait for it to ship to your doorstep.  Similar to purchasing a traditional textbook, they offer the etextbook which is a great alternative.  The etextbook is a downloadable version of the traditional textbook which can be purchased at half the cover price.  Customers must first download a digital rights manager to their computer which ensures that all copyright laws are being followed and that the content is used for its intended purposes.  Included in that download is also the unsealer which allows you to view the content, which comes to you as a PDF file.  It allo

ws for portability and the ability to print the content; however, only three copies of any given book may be printed to provide copyright protections.

Textbooks

up to 15% off

eTextbooks

always 50% off

          Similar to the etextbook, is the echapter.  The echapter is a product offered by iChapters that allows a customer to purchase a book one chapter at a time.  It is a similar one that iTunes implements where a user can buy one song or an entire album.  iChapters recognized the fact that if they did not offer the ability to digitally purchase single chapters, more users would turn toward traditional forms of media and simply buy a textbook.  These echapters range in price from $1.99 to $4.99 per chapter.  If a student is aware that their professor is using only select chapters, there is the potential to save hundreds of dollars.  The same technology is in place for downloading echapters as with the etextbook.  Both the etextbook and echapter can be easily accessed online or downloaded and printed from your own computer once it has been purchased.

       

   Audiobooks as low as $1.99     

Lastly, iChapters also functions as a bit vendor as they now offer audiobooks that can be downloaded and listened to right from your computer.  Audio books can be purchased for as little as $1.99.  iChapters appears to be the first company to break into the digital age of textbook downloads and individual chapter sales and there is a huge potential to capitalize off of.  There is of course competition from Amazon with their introduction of the latest Kindle; however, the focus of the Kindle is pleasure reading as opposed to academic reading.  There is the ability to offer textbooks through the Kindle though that poses a threat to iChapters.

            As the company continues to grow it is important that they be able to measure their success so that they may continue to grow and improve their product offerings as well as innovate.  The most obvious performance measure they need to use is sales, but they should break their sales down into each category of product to track exactly how well each medium performs.  A similar performance measure to keep in mind is the amount of repeat business and traffic to the site.  This will help the company analyze their strengths and weaknesses in terms of customer satisfaction.

            Another performance measure that they must be aware of is their download speeds and ease of use.  It is a major pitfall of many companies when a user tries to download something and three days later it is done or if a user simply cannot figure out how to download the content.  If iChapters can take into account their competition and create a system of performance measures, their unique offerings will continue to allow them to be successful and grow.The product is so successful because it caters to many different tastes and needs.  The financially strapped college kid can save a few bucks, the person who likes an old fashioned book is happy, and the environmentally conscious are happy as well.