The e-book market is hot and there’s a pricing war on the horizon. The wild popularity of the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble’s recent launch of its e-book reader Nook, and talk of Apple joining the game with its Tablet service has caused the publishing industry to take a closer look at pricing strategies for e-books in an effort to maximize sales of both hardcover books and e-books.
Communiqué PR’s client, Digonex, a provider of real-time pricing solutions recently offered its perspective on the e-book pricing war in a recent guest column in Publisher’s Weekly. Digonex’s CEO Jan Eglen and economic consultant Rafi Mohammed argue that while the publishing industry has cause for concern over the pricing of e-books, dynamic pricing technology provides a viable strategy for publishers to effectively navigate these new waters and continue to maximize revenue opportunities.
Eglen and Mohammed state, “The publishing industry is right to be concerned over $9.99 price tags for bestselling e-books. One price has the potential to disrupt the current publishing model, as well as change how books are marketed and priced in the future. The good news is that pricing techniques can be used to effectively manage this transition.”
The bottom line is it’s impossible to set one price on a vast catalogue of products such as e-books that is right for all. According to Eglen and Mohammed, “as the marketplace has learned through iTunes, all music isn’t worth the same price, and all e-books aren’t worth $9.99.” A dynamic pricing strategy can give publishers the flexibility to price e-books based on consumer demand to maximize revenue opportunities.
Apple’s entry into the e-book market could be a major game changer leading to a publisher-driven selling platform that would allow publishers to take back the pricing power that Amazon currently holds. One thing is clear, the e-book pricing war is just heating up and I anticipate we’ll be hearing the roars get louder in the coming months.