Fun reading with chirpy characters

Retailer: How do you perceive the kids’ book market in India? How would you compare the same to abroad?

Vineet Sharma (VS): The kids’ book segment is the largest growing market in the country, specifically the general book, edutainment and reference category. In comparison, the reference segment is not that popular in the international market, where categories like hobbies are more preferable. The kids’ segment is the largest market there as well, but within that the toddler section is much stronger as the westerns take the early-learning stages of kids very seriously. Also, bed-time reading is a popular concept in the western world, with significant segment of society is pursuing the same.

Retailer: What are the retail channels you’re presently using to reach out to your audience? Please elaborate on your operations abroad and how has your experience been?

VS: We started up with selling books through supermarkets rather than bookstores. We primarily sold our books through major retailers in UK like Saints Berry’s, Toy or Us, Woolworth and we attained tremendous response because we created subjects that made for impulse purchases, and pricing was very attractive as well. Then we moved onto the US, the land of opportunity and became a successful category for the suppliers. The next stop was Europe, where we published in 17 European languages. 

Retailer: How acquiring the license for popular characters has helped you take your business to higher levels?

VS: Licensing plays a vital role nowadays and characters’ connect with kids is strong, so there is preference for label products such as Hannah Montana bottles, Ben10, etc. This could be attributed to good marketing and product strategy. With licensing, publishing leads that way, as the feel of the characters are more visible through the published material, it is very complementing. The licensors play a vital role through their characters/properties, whereas for a publisher it becomes much easier to connect with the target audience.

Retailer: You are the licensee for many Disney characters and recently you’ve  also acquired Ben 10. What is your view with regards to the role being played by licensing in the publishing industry?

VS: Bringing in licensed characters has helped us build volumes, almost creating another title. In publishing industry, volumes is an important aspect because it brings down your cost, it amortizes your origination cost and once you’ve done that, it is a great vehicle to invest in bringing more titles.

Retailer: What are your plans to expand this licensed characters’ portfolio? How is this category different from the non-licensed stock you publish?

VS: It’s hard for us to put a number as it keeps on changing, for example, if Warner Bros comes up with new movie such as Pirates-4, or a new character then obviously it gets added. Some properties are hot in some markets, while they are not even known in other markets.

When you talk about the comparison with non-licensed stock that we publish, we don’t sell kids books because of the characters. A lot of publishing companies will like to do that because they would have a brand that sponsors their sale. The licensing business constitutes 30 per cent of our overall turnover which makes clear, the way we are operating in the segment.

Retailer: How do you plan to expand two years down the line?

VS: We have big plans to grow 35 per cent for the next three years. That is at the back of innovation, which is going to be a lot in terms of book-plus items. We are adding on more values to our books. I think licensing will grow, deliver more numbers because we’ve just signed on more characters as well. Disney is going to be a major part of our growth. If we talk about innovation, it will expand at the base of our reference on one side and interactive activity based materials on the other side.

Retailer: Who is your target audience in general and does that vary for the licensed chunk that you publish? How does the pricing vary, if it does?

VS: Other than the kids segment, cookery is picking up brilliantly at the moment and we will be concentrating on it for years to come. If you compare the licensed chunk in terms of its pricing with the generic books, there is no price variation; we give the same value in a Disney that we give in a Parragon generic. We do not over-profiteer; we rather pay royalties out of our margins. Talking in terms of the target audience, I think the licensed stock is preferable to the kid’s segment.

Retailer: How do you ensure that these IP and their characteristics/features (for which people relate to them) are utilised properly while weaving them in books/stories?

VS: I think it’s all about the experience that the kid gets out of the book. We are delivering a production quality for the continued physical presence of the books; it is also about the content satisfaction that the kid derives from the book. The readership is twice over the number of books that one sells.

Retailer: What is your marketing strategy, given that it’s a high-tech age we are living in? How do you ensure that books continue to play the same role in the lives of people the way they did 10 years back?

VS: Our marketing strategy is quite clear, the books are not bought as per brand, they are more subject driven, once the book has been read and they are satisfied with the content of the book, they share the experience with other people.

Ours is subtle and smart marketing, we do not believe the way forward for us to advertise our books. The key is to have a brand connect with the readers and to make the books available. In terms of our books competing with the e-books, it does not happen in our case, because we have a lot of touch-and-feel factor going our way. We are still keeping ourselves updated to the need of the hour. For example, we have a digital platform on the cookery front.

Retailer: What is the usual duration of these deals? What is the kind of deal that you sign with licensor, in terms of the role being played by both of you in taking the publishing industry to a new level?

VS: Licenses are normally for a year or couple of years and after that duration they are renewed. This is basically based on the requirement of Disney for meeting their minimum guarantees. Our job is to reach out to the readers at large. The licensor provides us with his characters, and we are assigned to promote their characters through television and other BTL activities. In terms of the story contents, Disney is quite confident about the subject that Parragon International uses and hence the role is completely designated to us.