In targeting these new markets, Chou hopes to forge new ground not only for Rakuten Kobo, but for e-reading itself. “We’re also thinking about how we could expand Limiting his ambitions to the Chinese-reading world.Ĭhinese language market will be the first step, but then we’ll look at offering I think it’s a good start, we now have a good relationship with Singaporean publishers in both English and Chinese.” Beyond Chinese “At the end of last year, we sponsored the Singapore Book Awards. Rakuten Kobo’s devices have been available in the country since 2019, and Chou’s team has been busy forging publishing connections. In Singapore, the process of laying the groundwork has already begun. Will be collaborating with key opinion-leaders to introduce Kobo and books thatĪre already very popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong.” Chou believes that appealing to these new Chinese-reading markets won’t require a radically different strategy.Īuthors are famous all throughout the Chinese speaking world,” he explains. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, Chou’s team has taken a high-precision approach to marketing, utilizing niche channels like podcasts – a medium which has recently taken off in Taiwan – to position Kobo as a trendy lifestyle service. “In Malaysia, only around 25% of the population is ethnic Chinese, but many can read both simplified and traditional Chinese.” “In Singapore, the official Chinese is simplified, but most can also read traditional Chinese, especially if it’s manga or lifestyle content,” he reveals. Now we have more than 150,000.”Įxpansion opened Chou’s eyes to the potential in other markets with significantĬhinese-reading populations – namely, Singapore and Malaysia. “Five years ago, there were so few traditional Chinese ebook titles in Taiwan. “We partnered with several Hong Kong ebook publishers to help them convert their catalog, and we’ve already boosted sales by a factor of three or four.” “70% of the traditional Chinese paper books sold in Hong Kong come from Taiwan, since both Taiwan and Hong Kong read traditional Chinese,” he explains. ” Hong Kong down, Singapore and Malaysia nextīy 2018, Chou’s successful management of Rakuten Kobo’s Taiwanese venture led to an opportunity managing the company’s Hong Kong business. “Our target is for every county or city to have a store displaying our devices. “This year we’ll have our e-readers displayed in 20 stores around Taiwan,” he reveals. Then I started getting messages from people asking where they could experience a Kobo.” A home-field advantage: Following Rakuten’s partnership with pro baseball team the Rakuten Monkeys, the Rakuten Kobo team installed two larger-than-life e-readers inside the club’s home stadiumĬhou’s team went on to launch a collaboration with local bookstore and lifestyle powerhouse Eslite. “We officially began selling Kobo devices in 2019. “From the day we launched I was receiving messages from customers asking when we were going to start selling our e-readers in Taiwan,” Chou reveals. It wasn’t long before Taiwanese readers also wanted to get their hands on Rakuten Kobo’s highly acclaimed e-readers. They worked closely with publishers to convert their offerings to ebooks, and after just six months in business, Rakuten Kobo’s catalog of traditional Chinese titles had tripled. “To expand our business across the Asia region is a very big opportunity for us and we’re working to build strong partnerships, not only with business and publisher partners, but also with our passionate reader communities.” Julian Chou, Rakuten Kobo Taiwan general managerĬhou and his team recognized early on that for an ebook service to succeed in Taiwan, readers needed a more extensive library of ebooks written in traditional Chinese. “When we launched Kobo in Taiwan, I think we had the correct strategy,” reflects Rakuten Kobo Taiwan general manager Julian Chou. Now, after years as a top player in Taiwan, the Taiwan Kobo team is looking to the next challenge: delivering the joy of ebooks to Chinese-reading customers in Singapore and Malaysia. Beginning with North America, Europe and Japan, in 2016 Rakuten Kobo officially launched in Taiwan, where the e-reading service now enjoys a significant following and steady growth. Part of their success as a global tech company has always been tied to the way the company creates engaging, localized experiences for booklovers across 25+ countries and regions. For more than a decade Rakuten Kobo has been dedicated to its mission to make reading lives better for all empowering booklovers around the world read anytime, anywhere and on any device.
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