Sell the Same Content in Different Formats

Books, magazines, newspapers, and instruction manuals available in print and online versions. Music sold on a CD or via internet download.
     Researchers at Lehigh University and University of Maryland point out that if a retailer can sell the same content in more than one format, more money can be made. The researchers’ work suggests ways to facilitate these multi-format sales. Other studies, at University of Mannheim, identify circumstances in which consumers will pay for “option value,” such as the ability to use content in different formats in the future even when there’s no planned use for the multiple formats. And Duke University research finds that the way in which the format options are presented can even reverse the purchase priorities.

• Recognize that consumers usually choose a format with one specific situation in mind. The newspaper to be read at the breakfast table, shared with family members, is the print version, but the electronic version better fits the tight quarters of an airline seat. The retailer can sell more than one format by asking the shopper about the range of situations in which the content will be used. The converse of this is for the retailer to start by describing the distinctive ways in which the shopper could get to the content in different formats. Then invite the shopper to think of situations he encounters, one situation to match each of the access attributes. Feature the flexibility.
• If the shopper says that each of the formats has a certain disadvantage in common, clearly acknowledge this and then present a distinctive advantage of each format. The Lehigh/Maryland studies found that this technique—which they appropriately characterize as counterintuitive—increases the chances of selling more than one format. The reason has to do with consumers who want to satisfy a desire being willing to ignore the downside of alternates if the alternatives all share that downside.
• Those Duke researchers asked business students to choose among three magazine subscription alternatives: Internet only at $59, print only at $125, and both formats at the same price of $125. About 84% selected both formats, 16% chose internet only, while understandably, nobody selected the print only. Then the researchers eliminated the print only option and asked a different group to select between the internet only and the internet/print. Now 68% chose internet only, and 32% selected internet/print. The implication: Highlight the value in choosing multiple formats.

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