Syndicated Business Intelligence
Shift Media Syndicated Business Intelligence is designed to inform investment decisions for the education and learning sector. Our reports are used by many market leading companies.
We investigate key decision areas and share results among the members who subscribe. This service is a cost- effective way for clients to keep up-to-date with market developments and benefit from Shift Media expertise.
Our recent reports:
Learning
Platforms and their impact in the UK schools sector (opens
as pdf in new window)
Ten framework suppliers have now been named. But which of these suppliers’ products looks likely to make the biggest gains in this market? Or will Moodle cause a real upset by taking custom away from the named suppliers? What role will content play and how will the purchase of content change? Who should content owners be partnering with if they want to find a partner with real market reach?
For more information contact jane.powell@shift-media.co.uk.
Addressing
the second-hand market 2007 – 08 (opens as pdf
in new window)
This is a yearly large-scale survey of the UK Higher Education sector, looking at the size of the market for second-hand student books in the UK and at the factors which might drive future growth. Our approach was designed to establish the behaviour and attitudes of both students and lecturers in a way that was both robust and measurable. This year we repeated the student side of this study. Our key objectives were:
- To measure and track the impact of the second-hand market on sales.
- To identify how the second-hand market varies by year and subject.
- To seek to understand what is driving second-hand sales.
- To investigate the student behaviours and attitudes that might determine the success of different strategies to reduce the impact of the second-hand market on new book sales.
For more information contact jane.powell@shift-media.co.uk.
Student
use of online resources (opens
as pdf in new window)
The textbook publishing market has never seemed so uncertain. In the world of online courses, Google, Moodle, Myspace and Facebook, increasingly, the online world is offering alternatives to the book. There are anecdotal indications that student behaviour is changing, with students lacking an appreciation of the value which publishers add to their paper-based resources. Sales in many areas of student publishing are significantly down on previous years.
Could we finally have reached a point where students have moved from paper-based to online information? And do these changes present opportunities to publishers as well as threats?
This research looks at student preferences and choices to give publishers an indication of where this fast-changing market is heading.
For more information contact jane.powell@shift-media.co.uk.
e-Marketing
to Academics
A key challenge for UK Higher Education publishers is to improve returns on their marketing spend in challenging trading conditions. Whilst academic response rates for specific campaigns are easily measurable, it is very difficult to assess how ongoing investments in direct marketing contact - emails, hard copy mailings, telemarketing, catalogues, publisher websites, unsolicited samples etc - impact on decision making processes and sales outcomes.
E-marketing to Academics aims to provide publishers with an objective view of how a specific segment of their customers search for, find, use and act on marketing communications to inform their adoption choices. The findings will provide show how lecturers across different disciplines use and respond to print and e-marketing approaches as well as give a rich qualitative insight about the value of information provided.
For more information contact jane.powell@shift-media.co.uk.
Pricing
and Sell-through of Textbooks in Higher Education (in partnership with
Blackwells Bookshops)
Publishers in the UK Higher Education market face difficult decisions when pricing their textbooks. The market shows signs of increasing awareness of rising prices and many publishers and booksellers report falling sell-through. Today, more than ever, pricing needs to be considered carefully.
Pricing and Sell-through provided research and recommendations designed to help decision-makers answer these key questions:
- What are the most important factors affecting sell-through in my markets?
- Is price increasingly affecting sell-through?
- Am I experiencing more problems with sell-through than the sector in general?
- How can I take action to increase sell-through?
- How can I price to maximise profit in different markets?
For more information contact jane.powell@shift-media.co.uk
Profitable
Textbook Supplements
Publishers in the UK higher education markets face difficult decisions
about developing textbook supplements for their lists. This has put pressure
on the profitability of books. Profitable Textbook Supplements addresses
the questions brought by this pressure.
As a business, how do you gain a competitive advantage
while keeping costs under control?
As a publisher, are you offering the supplements that increase sell-through
or sales of your books?
For more information contact jane.powell@shift-media.co.uk.
Reaching
the Home Market
Selling to parents, either via retailers or directly, looks to some an attractive option for educational content owners. The buoyant home market has been a blessing to publishers chasing ever smaller school book budgets. Research by Norwich Union shows parents are spending an average of £31 a year on school books for each child, while figures from the Education Publishers Council (EPC) show the average primary school spend is just £18, with secondary schools spending £23 per pupil. Indeed in 2004, Total Consumer Market sales in the school textbooks category were worth £42.1m in 2004, up 5% on the previous year.
But will the home market for electronic content prove to be similarly attractive for publishers and content owners? What is the size of the opportunity? And how can publishers and other content owners reach potential buyers?
For more information contact jane.powell@shift-media.co.uk.
We are currently developing syndicated research in the following areas:
E-marketing
to Academics in the US
Life after
electronic learning credits 2008
If you would like to order one of these reports or have any further suggestions concerning areas for us to investigate, please email jane.powell@shift-media.co.uk.