By
Thomas McConnell
Americans
born between the early 1980s and early 2000s have been deemed as
products of the “Millenial Generation”, “Generation Y”, or
the “Technology Generation”. These Americans, and people around
the world born in this time period, are characterized by their
obsession with technology. In the past 10 years alone, there have
been countless technological advancements that have drastically
altered the day-to-day routine of Americans. From social networks,
to video conferences, to printers that can assemble weapons,
technology continues to evolve, and it’s up to Americans to adapt
to these developments or get left behind. If any industry can attest
to this, it is the book industry.
For
centuries, paperback and hard-cover books had been the only means for
Americans to read their favorite books. Brick and mortar stores such
as Borders, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble were commonplace in just
about every mall in the country. The upsurge of electronic books,
commonly known as “e-books”, has changed all this.
Many
historians consider the first e-books to have been invented in the
1960s as part of the NLS project conducted at Stanford Research
Institute. Others consider the first to be patented by Angela Ruiz,
a teacher from Gallatia, Spain, in 1949. Despite these early
developments, electronic books did not begin their surge as the
leading choice for readers around the world until the new millennium
came in.
In
2004, Sony introduced the Sony Librie, the first electronic book
reader that utilized “e-ink”, a special type of electronic ink
created by the E Ink Corporation in 1997. Amazon followed suit with
the launching of the Kindle, now the most popular e-book reader on
the market, in the U.S. in 2007. In 2008, Books On Board became the
first online bookstore to offer e-books for iPhones.
Following
these innovations, readers slowly but surely began to shift their
focus away from the brick and mortar bookstore on the second floor of
their local mall, and toward their laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
E-books provided customers with a cheaper, more convenient
alternative to buying and reading books. This newfound alternative
has served as a great development to e-book readers, online
bookstores, and many customers; not so much for brick and mortar
bookstores.
In
the year 2012, for the first time ever, online bookstores accounted
for more book sales than brick and mortar bookstores. Through
November of that year, 43.8% of books were sold online, while just
31.6% were sold in large retailers. As of 2012, chain booksellers’
market share of the book industry fell to 19%, while e-retailers
market share had increased to about 38%.
No
corporation was hit harder by the evolution of electronic books than
Borders. Borders lead the movement of big-box booksellers, and
operated more than 1200 stores at its peak. After numerous quarters
of decreased sales and stock prices, Borders announced its plan to
close the doors to all of its stores and go out of business for good
in 2011. By September of that year, the last operating locations of
the store had been closed, and Barnes & Noble acquired Borders’
trademarks and customer list.
“We
were all working hard towards a different outcome, but the headwinds
we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly
changing book industry, eReader revolution, and turbulent economy,
have brought us to where we are now."
This
is a statement given by Mike Edwards, President of Borders Group,
regarding the closing of the company’s stores. While we can’t
ignore the impact of the recession that devastated our country’s
economy for a few years around the time of the company’s closing,
Borders can attest its inability to maintain sales they had
experienced in the 1990s and early 2000’s to the “rapidly
changing book industry” and the “eReader revolution”, or rather
the company’s failure to adapt to these changes. Companies like
Amazon foresaw this “revolution”, and made changes in their
operations and invested in new technologies, namely the “Kindle”,
and they are still functioning as a result.
The
sales results for e-books and brick and mortar bookstores for the
year of 2013 will be released in the upcoming months, and the numbers
will more than likely be even more promising for electronic
retailers, and more deflating for chain booksellers. With the
continued rise of smartphones, online bookselling apps, and the
electronic retail industry as a whole, for bookstores to maintain
their market share and avoid the same fate that Borders suffered in
2011, adaptation to these innovations in technology is the only
option.
E-Book Sales from 2005 to 2011 by Month:
NBC News article detailing the closing
of Borders bookstores:
Article further discussing the rise of
electronic booksellers
Good Post, books are not the only business and or product to take hits due to electronic advancements.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very interesting topic. I personally would rather an e-book because it would take less space in comparison to having multiple different books.
ReplyDeleteIn order to build on this of idea of how e-books are replacing regular books, I would say a good indicator of e-books taking over would be if other means of receiving text gets changed into e-books, such as newspapers, department of motor vehicle teaching manuals, or the mail that you get from home.
I have included a link that can be a great prognostication of the future.
https://www.manilla.com/blog/the-future-of-mail-a-fully-digital-mailbox/
i do believe electronic books will replace paper books eventually because you can have a whole library on a tablet or laptop where as paper books you will be carrying pounds of books if you wanted a whole library. its more effecient to store electronic books and even highlight or save pages in each electronic boook
ReplyDeleteIn the new age of technology, if you cannot keep up then you will be left behind. E-books are the perfect example of a new technology that companies need to keep up with. People buy e-books because they are easy to access and are less of a hassle. Everyone has a smartphone or laptop that they carry on them at all times, these devices allow one to access their e-books on the go with ease. Companies such as Borders will get left behind because no one uses hard back books any more.
ReplyDeleteIronically enough, I project that publishing companies will suffer in the future due to a lack of demand from their customers. Gone is the age of flipping through the Sunday paper to glance over the WSJ, check out your favorite team's game, or entertain yourselves in the simplicity of a crossword puzzle. Though this occurrence may seem negative for publishing companies, investor, and modern contemporaries, the idea of saving trees and preserving oxygen seems just a bit more prevalent and positive. Ofcourse the obvious factor in play here the efficiency in which the it is handled.
ReplyDeleteE-books and electronic technology is definitely the future for online learning and reading. Many of the education systems as well are converting their learning material to the E-books and it's showing a lot of promise in the situations that it's in. Brick and mortar book stores are a thing of the past, unfortunately Borders had to learn the hard way, with Barnes and Noble not far behind. The truth is that many of the books offered in the book stores are sold, used, online for a cheaper price as well. Ofcourse, if brick and mortar stores can begin to make the books more affordable and allow an electronic version of it, they have a chance to survive.
ReplyDelete