亞馬遜推出紙質教科書租賃業務 Amazon launches textbook rental service @ 【精英翻譯】的部落格

亞馬遜(Amazon)推出一項教科書租賃服務，允許美國學生每學期能以不超過新書售價70%的價格租用紙質教科書，但教育行業預計租賃業務的增長將會放緩。

Amazon.com has launched a textbook rental service, allowing US students to borrow print editions for a school term at up to 70 per cent off the price of new titles, but the education industry is expecting the growth of rentals to slow.

美國圖書工業研究會(Book Industry Study Group)的研究表明，教科書租賃在整個教科書市場所占的份額已由去年的8%上升至11%，而新教科書銷售的份額則相應從59%降至55%。此外，二手教科書市場的規模也相當可觀。

Book Industry Study Group research found that textbook rentals rose last year from 8 per cent of the market to 11 per cent, with a corresponding drop in new textbook sales, from 59 per cent to 55 per cent. There is also a sizeable second-hand market in textbooks.

另一家研究集團Student Monitor的調查顯示，去年租賃對紙質教科書市場的滲透率達到13%。美國最大的高校教材出版商之一聖智學習出版公司(Cengage)預測，到2015年該比率可能翻一番，達到26%，之後增長將趨於平緩。

Student Monitor, another research group, put rentals’ penetration of the print textbook market at 13 per cent last year. Cengage, one of the largest US college publishers, predicted that this could double to 26 per cent by 2015 before flattening out.

然而，聖智學習出版公司也預測，到2015年，租賃在高等教育營收中的份額將由今年的5.2%下降至0.8%。出版研究公司Outsell的勞拉•瑞西(Laura Ricci )表示，“我們將開始看到教科書租賃達到頂峰。”

However, Cengage also forecast that rentals’ impact on higher education revenues would fall from 5.2 per cent this year to just 0.8 per cent by 2015. “We’re beginning to see textbook rentals peak,” said Laura Ricci of Outsell, a publishing research firm.

這是因為，出版商正越來越多地利用技術手段使傳統教科書變得豐富多彩，而學生們也發現在網上出售二手書變得更容易。

This is because publishers are increasingly using technology to enrich traditional textbooks, and students are finding it easier to sell their used texts online.

瑞西表示，“消費者開始希望教科書的每一頁不僅出現文字，還要提供更多的內容。”她所指的是，隨著英國《金融時報》的母公司培生集團(Pearson)等出版商拓寬其業務模式，交互測試技術和其他“全課程解決方案”正在興起。

“Users are beginning to expect more from textbook content [than] just words on a page,” she said, pointing to the rise of interactive testing technology and other “full course solutions” as publishers such as Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, broaden their business models.

瑞西補充道，齊格網(Chegg)和BookRenter.com等現有教科書租賃公司正在開展多元化經營，它們未必會受到亞馬遜的威脅。

Existing textbook rental companies such as Chegg and BookRenter.com are diversifying, Ms Ricci added, saying they need not be threatened by Amazon.

BookRenter.com首席執行官麥迪•馬蘇德尼亞(Mehdi Maghsoodnia)對亞馬遜此舉表示歡迎。他表示，這將提高人們對教科書租賃服務的認識。該網站和Chegg提供與亞馬遜類似的折扣。

Mehdi Maghsoodnia, chief executive of BookRenter.com, welcomed Amazon’s move, saying it would increase awareness of textbook rental services. BookRenter.com and Chegg offer similar discounts to Amazon.

“我們承認，實際情況是99%的教育市場將繼續使用實物教科書，”他表示，“要幫助學生，鑒於目前學費上漲的幅度，你必須降低教科書價格。”

“It’s a recognition that the reality is that 99 per cent of the educational market continues to use physical texts,” he said: “To help students, given the increase in tuition fees, you have to lower the cost of textbooks.”

根據全國大學商店協會(National Association of College Stores)的數據，美國大學生每年在規定教材方面的平均支出為655美元。BookRenter指出，把這個數字乘以大約2100萬大學生，說明市場規模為130億美元。

According to the National Association of College Stores, US students spend on average $655 a year on required course materials. Multiplied by roughly 20m students in college, that suggests a $13bn market, BookRenter noted.

馬蘇德尼亞(Maghsoodnia)表示，根據一些估計，租賃業務可能將占到這一市場的一半，盡管這一轉變可能會降低以美元計算的整體市場價值。

Mr Maghsoodnia said by some estimates rental could grow to be half of the market by volume, although such a shift would reduce the overall market’s value in dollar terms.

幾家出版商已經在紙質和數字租賃服務上採取合作。2009年，麥格勞希爾集團(McGraw-Hill)與齊格網建立合作關系。周二，霍頓-米夫林哈考特集團(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)也宣佈與教育軟件公司Kno合作，以每本9.99美元甚至更低的價格提供為期一年的學校教科書數字租賃服務。

Several publishers have worked with print and digital rental services. McGraw-Hill and Chegg announced a partnership in 2009, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a deal on Tuesday with Kno, an education software company, offering year-long digital rentals of school texts for $9.99 or less per book.

研究機構Outsell今年表示，很多大學學生仍然認為完成課程之後出售紙質教科書要比購買或者租賃電子版教科書劃算。

Many college students still find that selling their print textbooks once they have finished with them is cheaper than buying or renting their digital equivalents, Outsell reported this year.

譯者/何黎