Lesson of 22nd April 2008:
Webmonkey - E-Commerce tutorial - read and learn:
We also looked at things that might be useful in you final assignment:
The top 10 Dot com flops. We looked at why these companies failed so that Val's books might avoid these particular pitfalls. The internet is not a guaranteed platform for success - in promoting a business, it's helpful to examine not only what works but what doesn't work, and learn from the mistakes of others.
Ideas that might be applicable to Val:
e-books
Some of the advantages:
Easily searched & cross-referenced using hyperlinks
Easily shared
Take up less storage space (approx 500 books on one CD)
Available on portable devices such as PDA's & mobiles- specific readers have been made
Enables hands-free reading, text size changes & text to speech software
Low production & distribution costs
Some are free
They are easily updated
Authors can reach a worldwide audience with no need for a publisher
Some of the disadvantages:
You need an expensive elecronic device to access them
If you are reading them on a computer then you'll have to download special software
All electronic equipment is prone to faults
They are also reliant on electricity
And beacuse of their cost might be attractive to thieves
They could be hacked without the authors permission or be susceptible to viruses
You'd be worried about reading them in the bath
But, they may be more durable than a paper book
AbeBooks
Formerly the Advanced book exchange, AbeBooks offers a marketplace for smaller book retailers so that they can appear in one place and thus compete with the larger internet book retailers. It is renowned for giving access to sellers of old, rare, and out of print books. Bookshops may or may not have a physical shop as well and may also advertise on biblio.com, amazon etc. in order to maximise their customer base.
Print on demand
Otherwise known as publish on demand, this is a method where publishers print off copies of books only when they are ordered. This reduces storage space and wastage and is highly suitable for what is known as 'surge' titiles, where a books popularity may be short-lived. For smaller publishers, it is an excellent way to print books with a niche market. It is a more eco-friendly method, reducing wastage of paper and ink.
You would have to think about how this might apply to Val's business - remember, he has a bookshop not a printers.