Online bookstores in India are a bit confused as according to the latest US data from the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the iPad is not only proving to be a category creator but also threatening to be a category killer. The threatened category is our own “physical books” or printed copies with variants such as hardcover or paperback. Data from the AAP shows that in both January and February 2011, commercial print sales posted double-digit declines, confirming our worst fears that digital sales are cannibalizing print. So the “ebook” is the disruptive innovation we love to hear about and if online bookstores are becoming more and more focused on eBooks then it’s no surprise. It is not like this? Now let’s shift our focus to India. I know it’s a bit abrupt, but please bear with me.
the indian setting
We can say that in the US, the digital version could very well mutilate the print ones. By the way, traditional print newspapers have already learned this the hard way. So should online bookstores in India follow the same path i.e. shift their focus from print to electronic versions? After all, in India things are a bit different as online book buying in India is currently growing by 50% year on year, driven solely by print sales. Most of us know that India is under-penetrated with low literacy levels (65%) compared to the US and poor internet connectivity. Therefore, even “print newspapers” are a growing category in India. So how can the advent of e-books affect their counterparts i.e. print books? Will online bookstores in India achieve higher growth in the e-book segment than print books? To answer these questions, let’s look at a major event centered on India. This is the case of the telecommunications boom.
Books and Phones
Let’s first take a look at the analogies between the two cases, that is, e-books and print books vs. landlines and mobile phones.
- Both are mediums, one for the written form of the words while the other is for the spoken form.
- On one hand, we had mobile as the technology of the future, which was more of an evolved form of landlines, while on the other hand, we had e-books, which seemed to be mobile phones for print.
- Add to that that when mobile phones came along, India was barely penetrated by landlines, as is the case with print books when e-books are already news abroad.
Last
It has been seen that “the mode that would dominate would be the one that would provide the best experience.” Based on this observation, our analysis would try to predict the future landscape of the book market in India. Let’s move on with the fixed-mobile case study. As late as 2000, landlines accounted for more than 90% of India’s telecom subscriber base, while 10 years later the scene was reversed and cellular phones account for almost 94% of the subscriber base. If you look at the evolution of the telecom industry, when cell phones were launched their USP was mobility while landlines had voice clarity and lower cost as their USPs. With mobile being a more dynamic technology space, it soon overcomes the barriers of cost and clarity. But in the process, its dynamism rubbed off on the cable line space, and the two technologies had some similarities. As a result, it was the advent of mobile phones that really gave the landlines a boost. While the wireless space experienced a CAGR of more than 75% over the decade, even fixed lines posted attractive double-digit growth in the early 2000s, driven primarily by better telephone handsets and the network effect created by the rise of cell phones. After all, if the son, who studied in a subway, had a mobile phone, then the parents, who lived in cities of the II level, were also tempted to opt for a landline phone.
The future
Now comes the debate about the electronic book and the printed book. The customer experience provided by iPads and Kindles has given e-books a huge boost. thanks to these tabs online bookstores in the US witnessed negative growth in print book sales. But in India, even e-books can give print books a big boost, as was the case with mobiles.
- With publishers livening up your offer with apps, graphics, and videos or variations like audiobooks, etc., you will encourage more people to read.
- Smarter content says smaller paragraphs, better graphics, etc. it will lead to easier-to-read “published” books.
- The print format comes with less of an anti-piracy burden, so publishers may be a little wary of pushing e-books too soon.
- With tabs priced high, books by Indian authors can still wait before going straight to ebook format.
With a growing market and better products, we can foresee a brilliant scenario for both hard copy and soft copy in India. “Online Bookstores In India” – Are You Listening?