Trend sign: Encyclopedia disappears from the bookshelf
After 244 years, the renowned Encyclopædia Britannica has discontinued its print edition and will focus on online distribution going forward. Note: There is life after print.
In 1990, sales of the 32-volume reference work in the USA peaked at 120,000 sets. Only 8,000 of the 2010 edition - which will be the last - were still in demand, mainly from libraries, embassies, research institutes and wealthy consumers with a flair for hardback books. 4000 sets remain unsold and are still waiting for buyers. On Amazon.com, the 32640 pages can be purchased for 2019.76 dollars. However, numerous offers of used editions on online exchanges such as Ebay.com are hampering sales.
It is therefore not surprising that book sales now only contribute one percent to total revenue. New competition has long since appeared on the web: Microsoft launched the multimedia encyclopaedia Encarta in 1993 and Wikipedia began its triumphant advance eleven years ago. Now the Chicago-based company is fully focused on the online business. Here, information can be constantly updated and supplemented with multimedia elements. Around half a million customers pay an annual access fee of 70 dollars to be able to easily access reliable information from anywhere. But even this online business only contributes a further 15 percent of profits.
Jorge Cauz, head of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc, admitted that the reference work was actually a remnant of the old days, even within his own company. Today, the company, which after several changes of ownership belongs to the discreet Swiss banker, investor and actor Jacqui (Jacob) Eli Safra, earns most of its money with innovative educational products, some of which are based on the contents of the encyclopaedia. To his knowledge, his company is the only media company to date that has not only succeeded in making the transition from the traditional media business to the digital world, but has been able to remain profitable and even grow, said Cauz. This transition had not been difficult either, as all employees understood that a new direction had to be taken. Unlike newspapers, the influence of digital media had been felt much earlier and the company had had time to reflect and was now going into the future stronger. (cjw)
