The impact of digital technologies continues to be felt by booksellers. It is no longer a fear of digital taking over as it is a necessity for traditional bricks and mortar operations to adapt to the changes brought on by digital in terms of customer expectations. Customers expect experiences that reflect the use of these new technologies for their benefit in terms of convenience, efficiency and individualism.
World Wide Worx reports that e-commerce in South Africa as a percentage of total retail sales is still under 3%. E-Commerce world-wide is growing at between 21-25%. Online retail of books in SA by the well-known SA Bookseller members seems to be tracking the global trend.
The e-commerce channels of booksellers is trending towards more mobile access. Some new developments that have led to up to 50% of browsing being done via mobile devices are:
- The ubiquity of mobile smartphones, faster (data-speed) network coverage and even cheaper data consumption devices (Smart Tablets with a useable browser dropped in price to under R1000 this year) by mobile network operators have bolstered the trend.
- Government initiatives to roll out free WiFi hotspots in metropolitan areas (and on commuter busses) that are subsidised by municipal service-fee collection efforts (eg Project IsiZwe, Free Tshwane WiFi)
- Harmonisation of book metadata feeds through Onix and new (more specific) categorical descriptions of titles (with locally derived variants) beyond ISBN/BISAC style towards Thema standards. This is, in part due to the whole-sale commodification of large computing capacity and storage by cloud vendors such as Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and Google that provide Amazon Web Services, Azure, Bluemix and Google Cloud respectively as SaaS, IaaS some Machine learning and artificial intelligence technology stacks.
- At e-Commerce Africa 2015 held in Capetown, Amazon Web Services (AWS) was able to create an online bookshop stocking more than 150 000 titles for sale (with cover images) in under 3 minutes using the computing power (EC2) and Elastic Load Balancing algorithms over global WANs. That demo runs 3 times faster today.
- At the same time, IBM partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Council of Industrial and Scientific Research (CSIR) and Universities like Wits to leverage their big data capabilities over 10 years in creating new opportunities for start-up and tech entrepreneurs. Included in the R700m investment were bursaries for 56 students to study computing at Bachelor level and funds for research at post-graduate.
General Books Online
General online bookshops faced stiff competition from giant conglomerates led by Amazon, Apple and Google. For such big online retailers, books are often seen as the low-hanging fruit in attracting customers to use their online services for other goods and services. A popular general trade title can be sold at a significant discount in order to capture a user. The life-time value of a user to an online retailer is seen as more profitable than any initial loss on a title. Online marketplaces where users can sell 2nd hand books have also seen increasing usage as a means to monetize under-utilised domestic goods during a depressed economic cycle. SA Booksellers members have risen to the challenge by
- Differentiating their offers more clearly as well as
- Providing a curated experience for repeat customers
- Rewarding loyalty
- Social media engagement
Educational e-Book and e-Learning Platform Variety
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in education has been more aggressively pushed in the Free State and Gauteng than most other provinces as a solution to up-skill learners with technology concepts as well as an alternative distribution method for CAPS and supplementary materials. The MECs concerned, Tate Mekgoe and Panyaza Lesufi respectively have employed different funding models to develop the appropriate education eco-systems. Whereas Gauteng likely has a bigger budget from the State Treasury, Free State has relied on some Local and International Aid which employs some overseas components.
Snapplify, a SA Booksellers member won the business to provide the eBook deployment platform and several bon mots for a period of 3 years from August 2016 to 2019. Snapplify is the implementation partner for Bongani Rainmaker Logistics who were the successful bidders for the +R600m contract with the Gauteng Department of Education. Bongani Rainmaker is contracted to provide project management services and the development of an online resource management system (an application) for LTSM and e-LTSM logistics ie. Project managing the procurement, packaging, and distribution. Develop and implement a system for requisitioning, management, monitoring and tracking of orders, deliveries and utilization of all materials provided to schools in Gauteng Province.
The Western Cape Education Department endorses private initiatives like Siyavula and open access materials including Exam past papers via free (zero-rated by Mobile Network Operators) and classic works in the public domain on platforms like WorldReader which work on cheaper feature phones.
Various players in the market have developed a plethora of ICT solutions for schools and booksellers are advised to evaluate the requirements and needs of their communities and potential clients thoroughly before embarking on a change to their business model or investing in technology partnerships that may initially have years of low yield. Based on feedback from SABA members trading in the private sector, e-book deployment at schools was enforced in the bigger education group divisions as part of a long term strategy for the education groups to capture more value from their own ICT infrastructure. This lead to frustrations from parents having to buy devices, conflicting license terms for content between publisher and end-user, security costs for transporting and storing equipment, ill-equipped or untrained teachers left on their own to provide support. Good teachers (technology champions) jumping ship for greener pastures as they become more employable.
Curro holdings plans to add 38 more campuses before 2020 from 42 currently. This will be +/-200 private primary schools (90 000 children) and at least 2 private tertiary institutions in the group.
The PSG group that owns Curro has a significant stake in ITsi which implies that these schools may be inclined to the ITsi e-Learning eco-system.
AdvTech has 78 schools on a similar number of campuses however their tertiary education business is focussed on the rest of Africa where the returns seem better.
Inspired Group has 11 super-premium schools in SA and are planning more in addition to tertiary. They use high-end apps from Apple and Google for e-Learning.
In Higher Education, more than 8 tenders have circulated so far into 2017 for ICTs hardware including Limpopo (Lephalale), Eastern Cape (Ingwe), North-West (Vuselela, Orbit), Western Cape (False Bay) and so on.
All of this makes for a compelling case for booksellers to prime themselves for continuous public interest in e-learning materials including supplementary content like revision aids in electronic format. Electronic format has the advantage of facilitating student’s remote learning or self-directed study more efficiently due to audio-visual explanatory material beyond a classroom teacher’s capabilities as well as self-marking assessments in real time.
Recent moves in digital
As with printed books, 2017 has shown an increasing propensity for Publishers to enter into agreements with Government Departments directly to supply e-LTSM. Publishers have side-stepped local booksellers to pitch their own e-Learning solutions or have been summoned by e-LTSM Directorates as a body (Publishers Association of South Africa ,PASA) which side-lines the local book-seller from participating.
The SA Booksellers Association should make itself heard to be in vehement protest with such an exclusionary and anti-competitive approach by public departments. Since booksellers are likely to have local knowledge and experience in their own communities.
Amazon continues to grow it’s cloud services business and is preparing for a 2nd office in SA. Their strategy was always to use books as the worm on the hook to introduce customers to other services via their Amazon Prime offer. They have invested in more physical infrastructure and acquired some bricks-and-mortar physical retail outlets in order to have access to the daily grocery market. Independent book-sellers in the US have benefitted from this.
Van Schaik Bookstore, Southern Africa’s largest academic bookshop chain has introduced it’s very own Mobile Virtual Network Operation (MVNO) that has a specific bundle of services directed at students. The Van Schaik Bookstores Mobile network is deeply integrated into a rewards program that provides benefits including 3rd party offers at clothing retailers, fast-food restaurants, additional airtime and WiFi access to students that buy textbooks from the retail chain.
Publishing Houses have seen long-serving staffers of good repute with viable contacts leave to join technology vendors particularly in Education. Notably, Mark Seabrook (formerly at Penguin Random House) has joined Snapplify, Renaye Keus (formerly Pearson) and Suzann Prinsloo (formerly Via Afrika and Lapa Uitguwers) have joined ITsi while Bernita Naudé (formerly of MacMillan Education) has joined Cylo. Naazir Abrahams from Oxford University Press was appointed to head the local Vitalsource team by Ingram Content Solutions EMEA office in the UK. Julia Lhuillery-Moulder left Oxford for Reveleo.net
It is quite clear that the e-Book space is entering a formidable period of competition. Some of the platforms to watch are ITSi, Snapplify, SmartSWOT, myeBook, Vitalsource and EraOnline. Booksellers should therefore strive to be well-acquainted so as to serve their customers with quality offers from such a veritable smorgasbord of edtech options.
SABOOKSELLERS DIGITAL REPORT
Melvin Kaabwe
Digital sector chairperson
