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IEEP floats site, plans to sell books the FMCG way

Purvita Chatterjee

MUMBAI, July 3

INDIAN Express Egmont Publications Ltd (IEEP), the equal joint venture between Egmont International Holdings, Denmark, and the Indian Express Newspapers, will soon float its own Web site. Much along the lines of its partner's international site (Egmo nt Online), IEE's site will be interactive in nature and will include chats and information on all its titles.

The company already sells its products through Web sites such as jaldi.com and Fabmart.com, but its own site would be more of a showcase for its products and selling would only be incidental.

Mr. Uday Mathur, CEO, Indian Express Egmont Publications, said, ``We have the advantage of a library of content from our joint venture partner and intend using the same to develop our site in India.''

Besides, the company intends selling its titles in a lot more places than restricting itself to book stores. So, in spite of having a direct marketing network for its high value encyclopaedias, it plans to sell its books and stationery through the Telesh opping Network (TSN), and does not want to restrict itself to book shops.

Says Mr. Mathur: ``We have positioned our products as gifts and packaged them attractively. The idea is to sell them like FMCG products, making them impulse buys.'' Though it has a presence in bookshops, there are plans to be expand its presence to toy s hops, departmental stores, gift galleries and shops such as Archies and Hallmark. It has also approached direct marketers, Modicare, to sell some of its products.

Says Mr. Mathur: ``Today, we are present in 9,000 outlets and we plan to increase this number to 20,000 by the end of the year.'' Starting operations in September 1997, products include an entire range of Walt Disney books and comics and various other ch ildren's series. It has recently obtained rights to publish Phantom and Mandrake comics in India. On the anvil are plans to launch the Indian edition of the famous Noddy series which will be packaged as a gift.

Though its focus is on children's books and comics, IEE also intends venturing into paper bound stationery items such as notebooks, diaries, organisers and even tapes to go with the books.

Adds Mr. Mathur, ``Since we have a licensee arrangement with Walt Disney in India, we may also introduce certain toys with our books.'' Also on the cards are Walt Disney note books and fun stationery ranging from file folders to autograph books. The Read Along Disney series, comprising books and audio cassettes based on Disney themes and musicals, is slated to be launched this August.

Among the Walt Disney publications in the company's portfolio are Mickey Mouse Comics and Digest, adventures of Donald Duck, Barbie Comics and the Disney Children's Encyclopaedia, a 24-volume set for children between the ages of four and 14.Recently, Egm ont Children's Books bought over Reed Publications, which prints and markets Enid Blyton books worldwide. As a result, some popular Enid Blyton series such as St. Clares, Malory Towers and the Mystery Series titles will be made available here at affordab le prices.

The publishing company has also come out with a range of products featuring Toy Story II characters, which has been packaged in a gift box comprising a jumbo colouring book, a Toy Story maxi-shape kit and a badge.

In fact, IEE has always been tied up with newly-released films in the past and has been associated with movies such as Bugs Life and Tarzan. Co-branding with movies too is an ongoing process. A similar exercise is planned when the movie Dinosaur gets rel eased in September this year.

Another way to promote itself has been through the Book Clubs it has set up _ the Barbie Book Club, the Disney Book Club and the Phantom Book Club. These clubs have nearly 40,000 members already, while subscriptions ensure that free gifts are doled out t o members from time to time.

More than competing with existing Indian children's literature such as Amar Chitra Katha, Chacha Chowdhury and Chandamama, the race is across categories with media such as television and Internet taking over the child's time and pocket money.

As Mr. Mathur says, ``Today, reading as a habit is declining with other media gaining popularity.'' In any case, the children's books market is still unorganised and fragmented and is presently flooded with low quality priced books.

Not disclosing any turnover figures, IEE expresses hopes to break even in its third year of operations. ``We want to develop the market by having affordable pricing,'' states Mr. Mathur. With the backing of the $1.2 billions Egmont International, one of Europe's largest publisher and creator of children publications, achieving growth and thereby profits, should not be too difficult for IEE. After all, the A.C. Nielsen study conducted after studying six major Asian countries has revealed that reading as a habit is still the strongest in India and is the second most preferred activity after `playing'.