Pricing Online Books: Customers Get Options
By Karen Steele, Global Senior Product Sales Manager, Online Books, Elsevier, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Setting prices for Elsevier’s Books on ScienceDirect has seen its share of twists and turns since the first title, Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, appeared on ScienceDirect in 2001. Given the relative infancy of the online book channel, price setting for online books will continue to see change as we adapt to and address customers’ purchase behaviors and preferences.
In the early days, within Elsevier and Academic Press several pricing approaches for online books were piloted: (1) buy print, receive online free; (2) buy online and receive a discount on print or vice versa; (3) buy print and receive online free for 10 years! The list goes on. Across publishers, no pricing stone has been left unturned.
In 2003 and 2004, Elsevier introduced in earnest our online books, comprising multivolume reference works, book series and handbooks. Prior to launching the books, we conducted market research and focus groups to solicit how customers wished to purchase and under which models. The result was introduction of a scheme based on a subscription model to provide for a smooth and predictable purchase pattern. The pricing was deliberately divorced from the print commodity for simplicity in messaging and transaction, and true choice of print, online or both. The subscription value proposition accommodated planned content updates and new volumes added to content each year. The subscription price was significantly lower than for the print equivalent and an approximate print-to-online payback period was calculated to be about five years depending on an institute’s size.
But guess what? About 50% of customers voiced that they also wanted the option to purchase nonserial online book products such as reference books in a one-time fashion. In response, in late 2005 Elsevier introduced One-Time Pricing, an option that, depending on an institute’s size, offers approximately four to eight times the print price and offers a payback period similar to the timing of a new edition in the print world. (Every four to eight years Elsevier typically used to publish a revised multivolume reference work.)
So now, for our existing nonserial online book products including reference books, Elsevier offers subscription pricing to help customers needing predictability and One-Time Pricing to help customers administering one-time budgets.
In the online pricing crystal ball, one can envisage as part of the mix: pay-per-view; course licensing; time-based or user-based access; and usage, subscription and one-time payments. Elsevier pricing for books is continuously reviewed and refined to address needs of our customers and their users. Customer feedback drives this refinement. Please feel free to write to me at k.steele@elsevier.com. 
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