Books Have Been a Major Source of Knowledge - Assignment Example

CASE ANALYSIS s Introduction For quite a long time books have been a major source of knowledge for most people. However, the trends on sales of book have seen a considerable shift due to the advancement and changes in technology. Used books have been used through used books stores and this has usually collected quite a good amount of money. By 2004, this industry had been estimated to be making $ 2.2 billion through the sales of 111 million books. The shift to the internet has significantly changed this and many sellers were now able to reach millions of buyers online. For this reason, the sales through bookstores reduced by 4%. During the same time 2011, the internet sales increased by 12%. By 2004 online sales made 50% of the total books sold in the US. Currently, websites owned by independent used books account for 9% of total books sold online. Currently, Amazon is the leading online bookseller of used and new books. There has been lots of competition with many authors opting to include shipping costs for their consumers in order to increase their sales. Ironically, most of the consumers preferred purchasing used books due to their low prices. It is argued that despite the book being used the information still remains the same. According to reliable sources of information Amazon generated 49% of its revenue through sales of used books. By 2010, most of the consumers used bookstores as their main sources of book which accounted for 30% of total sales. During the same year34 million customers bought books online. For quite a long time Amazon has been dominating this business since its inception in 1995. The entry of Google Books in the field of online sales and books is also creating competition (Deahl). This is because Google enjoys the largest search engine in the world and their ability to provide online books at cheaper rates is creating a lot of competition for Amazon and other booksellers. Bookstore channel made significant strides and more sales with American company Barnes and Noble enjoying up to 1,700 stores in the US which accounted for 30% of total sales in the years 2010. In the previous year 2009 the company was the best seller of online books which accounted for $5.8 billion and an operating profit of 0.63%. Amazingly, only 10% came from online shops while the rest were made from the physical bookstores which are spread all over US. The bookstores were large enough ranging from 3000 square feet to 60,000 square feet meaning that the stores could make up to 200,000 different titles in their shelves. The increase in sales and success of the online sales is attributed to the embracement of modern technology which is mainly through the internet. During the year 2010, Amazon dominated the online sales of books. The company enjoyed a capacity of more than 34 million customers who mainly concentrated with online books. Amazingly, the company managed to make sales up to $12.8 billion which resulted to a net profit margin of 3.7%. In addition to this, the company managed to produce music and video recordings and summaries of some of their products. This attracted most of the online reader’s attention and simplified their work. Instead of reading, they could manage to listen to video recordings and make conclusions and summaries about the books. This idea accounted for $12.8 billion of the total sales for Amazon Company in 2010. The success of online sales of books also comes with the revolution within the information and technology industry. For companies to make it successfully for online sales, they have to ensure that features like customers satisfaction ratings are included in their websites. Other options like shipping and delivery of the books, security for credit card purchases as well as book discussions and review can help in attracting more customers. Amazon has been in the forefront of delivering such services to its customers hence the reason why the company is enjoying a good brand name and customer loyalty. Recommendations Having analyzed the trend of online bookstores and use of borrowed books the following recommendations are therefore necessary. In order to avoid plagiarism there is need for serious measures to be set in place in order to reduce theft and counterfeit production of books. With regard to the advancement in technology it is therefore necessary that all book providers provide soft copies of their books alongside the hardcopies which will make it easy for the consumers to access books. There is also the need to ensure that strict measures are made over online books. The sales of online used books have equally attracted a lot of fraud and e-crime. For this reason, it is necessary to make strict measures when it comes to sales of online books. Moreover in order to increase sales of book there is need for booksellers to brand their books which may help in creating customer loyalty. This will also help in avoiding fraud and plagiarism. It will also be necessary to establish rules which will govern the type of books which are made available online. This is aimed at preventing sales of immoral materials which may expose consumers at a risk of using low quality books. It is also important to understand that the size of the book matters when it comes to customer’s selection. The larger the volume the larger the content in the book and the more expensive the book is likely to be. However, different readers have different tastes and preferences and Amazon has been able to provide both large and low volume books to heir consumers. For this reason, Amazon has been able to attract even single writers who are willing to sell their books. This is because Amazon is taking advantage of the economies of scale which is arising from its 11.8 million square feet warehouse operations which is located in North America. In addition to this the company has also 5.7 million square feet warehouses located in the rest of the world. On the other hand another competitor Borders only manages seven distribution facilities in the world which is totaling to 2.1 billion square feet which is far much less than what Amazon is enjoying. This is the reason why Amazon has dominated sales of their books online and in bookstores due to their ability to enjoy the economies of scale. References Deahl, Rachel. BISG Trend Report Sees Industry Growth, The Book Standard. 5 May 2012. 2014 . Read More