Packback BooksMarket Potential at the Ohio State

University

Agenda

● Intro to PackBack Inc.● Textbook Industry Preliminary Research● Management Decision Problem● Marketing Research Problem● Focus Group Findings ● Conclusions & Recommendations

Textbook Industry● $7 billion industry

● The price of textbooks has risen more than 800% over the past 30 years

● The average college student spends more than $900 a year on textbooks

● Yearly increased profit margins of 2.5%

Student Concerns● 65% of students did not

buy a textbook because it was too expensive

● 48% of students said that textbook prices affected their decision to take a class

Student Alternatives● Open Source Textbooks

● Renting (Amazon & Chegg)

● E-bookso 8%

Student Alternatives● Bookboon

● Boundless

● Slugbooks

● 19% of students have pirated a textbook online

Management Decision Problem•Should Packback Books be marketed to Ohio State University students?

➔ Packback is currently marketing at comparable universities

➔ Potential to gain additional market share

➔ Home to 60,000 college students, our ideal customer

➔ Current OSU freshman spends $1200 per semester on books

➔ Tablet experience is transforming higher education methods

Marketing Research Problem•To assess the market potential for Packback books at the Ohio State

➔ Is OSU our target market?

➔ Student opinions regarding the textbook industry

➔ Buyer behavior for textbooks

➔ Opinions on e-books versus traditional textbooks

➔ Demographics

Focus Group Findings ● Textbook Buying & Usage Behavior

o Textbook Opinions “Kind of a waste” “Don’t really use them “Temporary”

o 6/8 people had the experience of not using textbooks they had purchasedo General Education courses tend to have less textbooks usage than Major

courseso Tend to get more creative in finding textbooks sources online

● Opinions regarding Packbacko Questioned service o “Too good to be true”o Good for temporary usage

Conclusions & Recommendations

● Research regarding market potential at Ohio State o Sample different Majors and Rankso Find our ideal market within the university

● Brand Ambassadors o Lack of brand awareness from OSU students

Works CitedBand, Jonathan. "The Changing Textbook Industry - Disruptive Competition Project." Disruptive Competition Project RSS. 21

Nov. 2013. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://www.project-disco.org/competition/112113-the-changing-textbook-industry/>.Kolodny, Lora. "After Shark Tank, Packback Seeded For ‘Pay-Per-View’ E-Textbook Rentals." Venture Capital Dispatch RSS.

4 Aug. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/08/12/after-shark-tank-packback-seeded-for-pay-per-view-e-textbook-rentals/>.

Mitchell, Josh. "A Tough Lesson for College Textbook Publishers." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 27 Aug. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://online.wsj.com/articles/a-tough-lesson-for-college-textbook-publishers- 1409182139>.

Rogers, Bruce. "David Miller's SlugBooks Out To Disrupt College Textbook Market." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Apr. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucerogers/2014/04/08/david-millers-slugbooks-out-to- disrupt-college-text-book-market/>.

Senack, Ethan. "Fixing the Broken Textbook Market: How Students Respond to High Textbook Costs and Demand Alternatives." US PIRG. The Student PIRGs, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://www.uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/NATIONAL Fixing BrokenTextbooks Report1.pdf>.

Zomer, Saffron. "Exposing the Textbook Industry: How Publishers' Pricing Tactics Drive Up the Costs of College Textbooks." Student PIRGs. The Student PIRGs, 1 Feb. 2007. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. <http://www.studentpirgs.org/sites/student/files/reports/exposing-the-textbook-industry.pdf>.

http://www.packbackbooks.com/

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