VAN SCHAIK BOOKSTORES
VAN SCHAIK BOOKSTORE
Diversification to Unlock Expansion for
Van Schaik
PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen
Van Schaik Bookstore will take its Rewards members to new places through its exciting and innovative new app that allows students to subsidise their learning by viewing targeted advertising material. A first for South Africa, the Van Schaik Rewards App is already being lauded by SA students. MD Stephan Erasmus explains more…
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Van Schaik Bookstores have been servicing the SA market for 103 years. After opening up in Pretoria in 1914, the company quickly expanded into what is today its core speciality, educational material. Van Schaik brings content from the world’s leading publishers – the likes of Cengage Learning, Pearson, Oxford University Press, Macmillan Publishers, Wiley and many more. Its presence now covers almost all of the country’s educational centres; it is multi-award winning (claiming the Sefika Academic Bookseller of the Year award for the past six years); it offers a large product range beyond just books; it also sells an extensive collection of e-textbooks tablets, computers, stationery, etc., but this ambitious organisation is hungry for further growth and wants to improve its offering to Africa’s growing student population. Managing Director,
Stephan Erasmus explains that Van Schaik has taken an innovative approach to expansion, and is looking at diversification strategies to continue on the growth path. Earlier this year, Van Schaik positioned itself as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in South Africa. Aimed at students, the MVNO sells data and airtime at competitive rates and encourages involvement in Van Schaik’s rewards scheme. The Van Schaik rewards scheme was started in 2015 and helps users to generate extra income for themselves, get access to free Wi-Fi and WhatsApp, and stay informed and entertained. “The motivation behind the move to start an MVNO is that we have a loyalty database of customers who requires data for education purposes. We started the database in 2015 and the Mobile offering is a great way to reward our members,” explains Erasmus. “We
tried various methods of marketing to the database and saw some success and spending. The mobile offer is another way of rewarding our members and monetising our rewards database. “When we started the MVNO we had around 100,000 people signed up to rewards and today we have around 140,000. We launched the MVNO in February 2017 and in the past six months, we’ve signed up just over 31,000 students with RICA’d sim cards. They become rewards members, and subsidise data and airtime costs using our MVNO.” This unique approach to communication with customers is facilitated by the Van Schaik Rewards App. Developed for Android, the Van Schaik Rewards App is a lock screen replacement app that has been integrated with the Van Schaik Rewards loyalty programme. As one of the first
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INDUSTRY FOCUS: EDUCATION
South African companies to rollout such an offering, big things are expected. Essentially, Van Schaik requires a user to download and register on the Van Schaik Rewards App. During in-App registration the user is asked for their details and interests and a profile of the customer is created so that the company can tailor advertising based on their interests and location. Apart from special offers communicated with lock screen adverts, customers also earn real money in a virtual wallet, just for seeing the advert. This wallet can then be used to buy at any Van Schaik store or to spend on airtime and data. “This business stands on two legs,” details Erasmus. “Firstly, the MVNO cell phone operation and secondly, it’s a media business. We advertise to our rewards members who earn income based on adverts viewed. “We can now pinpoint a student in a specific town, see what they are studying and set up targeted marketing. We liaise with other companies who pay for the advertising and we display ads to the students through a lock-screen application. That means, every time you unlock your phone, you will see an advert. You can then
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take advantage of the offers in the adverts, download vouchers, go into the stores and get discounts or make savings. This means the stores can also monitor the success of the advertising campaigns.” VAN SCHAIK REWARDS With the prospect of saving money, claiming discounts, earning cash that can be spent on airtime and data or in any Van Schaik store; all in an environment where student financing is under intense scrutiny, the app is being welcomed. “People love the application,” admits Erasmus. “It’s challenging to explain it properly and that is why we are marketing heavily in South Africa but when it’s understood, people realise it’s win-win-win. It’s challenging to demonstrate in a store to a student who is in-between classes, but it’s a brilliant idea and we believe in it. “Each time you watch an advert, you earn income which is added to your wallet within the app. You can monitor your income, and how much you’ve earned over the past 12 months in the wallet. From the wallet, you can also buy airtime, data, or items from the Van Schaik shop. If you buy data or airtime for R99 in a 30-day period, you can also earn further rewards in the form of benefits like free WhatsApp and Wi-Fi or vouchers for KFC or something similar.
“When you register as a rewards member in the App, you select various fields of interest; including things like sports and fitness, health and beauty, motivation, food and drink, and many other areas. You enter your details; including the university you attend, what campus you’re on, and what subject you study. Based on this information, we can push relevant ads.” But are advertisers in South Africa ready to adopt this new approach to commercial promotion? Are companies in a position to investigate marketing like this? And is the country’s infrastructure solid enough to support such an application? “The amount of times people unlock their phones is increasing every year. The latest comprehensive research from Deloitte in 2015 shows results across 50 countries which finds that people unlock their phones 44 times per day. This was an increase from 33 in the previous year. They also found that people between 18-24, exactly our student market, unlocks 76 times per day on average. This gives us 76 advertising opportunities,” says Erasmus. “According to the IAB (International Advertising Board), the spending on advertising is going mobile. So many people are now interacting with the internet through phones and that is where digital advertising spend is going so we believe that this is strategically
VAN SCHAIK BOOKSTORE
a huge opportunity to expand as we have a direct way of marketing to our consumers,” he adds. The GSMA has released reports that state ‘3G connectivity in South Africa is almost universal while 4G networks now reach 75% of the South African population’. The same reports also suggest that mobile subscriptions and infrastructure development will speed up over the coming years. “It’s a new direction for the business, it’s a diversification, and we see it is a helpful tool for students. Many campuses have free WIFI these days but it’s not universal and students require data to interact with the university, to download their assignments or submit work while they’re at home,” says Erasmus. “Long-term we want to drive behaviour,” he states. “Ultimately, if we can influence a student to buy more books, attend more classes, and subsidise his/her education costs, we believe we could positively impact the success rate of students.” Of course, the content of the app can be tailored to suit the individual user and traditional adverts are not always displayed; often, it can be content of interest such as articles and news posts. There’s also a call centre to help troubleshoot issues and help users run the app smoothly. It’s about providing a fast and useful service for students and diversifying the business strategy of this long-standing bookseller, and so far it seems to be working. “Looking at my own wallet on the app right now, I can see that I’ve earned, on average, R47 per month which I spent on airtime or data. It’s part of our wider reward scheme so just by unlocking your phone you can subsidise your airtime, data and education costs by purchasing in our stores. The more ads you see, the more money you make,” enthuses Erasmus.
for the Van Schaik business and this is important considering the state of text book sales globally. Educational print book revenue, across international markets, is set to fall between 2013 and 2018 by US $1.6 billion to US $33 billion according to PwC. The global professional services firm states that e-book revenue is set to increase and somewhat plug the gap, but Erasmus says Van Schaik is yet to see significant uptake of e-books. “The one thing that concerns us is that each year we sell slightly less books. It’s a worldwide phenomenon that people are buying less textbooks. People now expect things to be free; they assume they can ask Google and get the answers. A book packages information and gives a methodology and framework that can educate in a logical, disseminated, sequential manner. Students don’t see this value
and often don’t buy the books. “The result is Van Schaik going in and working very hard on campuses and with publishers to help students and academics understand the value and the role of a text book so they can place an emphasis on the funding, spending and usage of textbooks. “Books are the ideal tool for a lecturer to base a class around and that will not change. They are peer-reviewed, written by the world’s top scholars and academics, and they ensure quality standards,” says Erasmus. GEOGRAPHIC EXPANSION? In a drive to bolster its core business, Van Schaik will continue to look across South Africa’s borders for physical expansion opportunities. Opening stores in other African nations has long been a target for the company but has materialised only very slowly. Van Schaik looks for three
CLOSING BOOKS? This innovative new offering looks set to open up a whole new avenue
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INDUSTRY FOCUS: EDUCATION
important indicators of market potential – funding (from government), size of market (number of universities and campuses), and market dynamics (do people buy textbooks?). “There must be a market and there must be funding. We’ve built relationships with academic institutions and they will know who to contact when an opportunity arises. Most of the time, academics see the value of textbooks but they are not the policy makers. They would love funding to be allocated but it doesn’t always go that way. In countries where government is involved and stands behind funding and textbook usage, you get a
better standard of education.” In the future, whether growth in Africa is achieved or not, it is clear that Van Schaik is preparing for change. The business is doing all it can to adapt to a new way of learning, new ways of communicating, and new methods of marketing, and again, Erasmus remains confident. “Any business environment is challenging. You must be proactive. You have to find the opportunities and you have to develop them. We’re trying new things but we’re focussed on books as we honestly believe that our mission is to educate people. Books in electronic and print format is the ideal
tool to achieve this. We are mindful that students need more than just books and we continuously investigate new products,” says Erasmus. “The world changes and we will adapt and change with it,” he concludes.
VAN SCHAIK BOOKSTORE (021) 951-4049 vsb@vanschaik.com www.vanschaik.com
//CENGAGE LEARNING - CREATED WITH EDUCATORS. BUILT FOR LEARNERS “Education is what will make this country succeed,” says South African Sales Manager for Cengage Learning, Teresa Fuchs. “Education is not going away - the model might change but that excites us and we are positive about the future.” Cengage is an international developer and publisher of educational materials, and distributes peer reviewed content in South Africa through the Van Schaik network. Cengage publishes textbooks across a wide variety of academic disciplines, from Accounting through to Zoology, and operates with the belief that every student has the potential to be unstoppable. This belief is shared with Van Schaik and the pair continue to deliver educational resources to thousands of students every year, proving that successful business relationships result in the betterment of the country. “We’ve been dealing with Van Schaik for many years and we regard them as our key customer,” says Fuchs. “They are our biggest customer thanks to their extensive footprint around the campuses of Southern Africa. Our Cengage representatives are constantly in touch with our partners at Van Schaik and when a new title is prescribed, we can ensure the branch managers are the first to be able to place orders.” As Van Schaik continues to help broaden the appeal of eBooks among SA’s students and academic institutions, Cengage will continue to support learning of all types so that students can achieve their goals. “We have worked with Van Schaik extensively to offer a comprehensive eBook listing of all of our key adopted titles – every single adopted textbook has the equivalent eBook in SA, and we want to get the message out there that eBooks are very convenient so we recently undertook a promotion
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to reduce prices of all eBooks to ensure affordability for students. “We feel that students don’t have a problem with eBooks. We are trying hard to get through to lecturers so that they are aware of how easy they are to use. Our representatives are on campus every day, listening to customer needs; so if it’s and eBook or a print book, we can make it available to them” says Fuchs. And it’s not just product range where Cengage is at the industry’s forefront – the company also has a wide geographic spread. Cengage sells in more than 120 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, covering a diverse cultural range, each with its own particular and varied curriculum needs for educational solutions. This is good news for Van Schaik which is looking at East Africa for its own expansion. “We would love to work with Van Schaik wherever they go in Africa. We’re already active in Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia and as they move on and up, we’ll certainly work with them, without doubt,” says Fuchs. Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. As the emphasis on effective education in SA grows, Cengage will be first in line, delivering its high-quality materials without delay. “We offer consistency,” sums up Fuchs. “Our customers know that if there’s ever an issue, they can contact any one of us directly and get an instant answer whereas our competition has high levels of staff turnover. We’ve been in the market for a long time and we are well-known, and that helps us stand out.” www.cengage.com / emea.info@cengage.com / +44 (0)1264 332424 / +27 (0)21 852 5116
Y L T L O A D C E O L L I V E G R N I K R O W
G N I N R A LE
Cengage works with local companies such as Van Schaik to produce and deliver learning solutions to South African institutions.
cengage.co.uk/education
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DOWNLOAD
Download the Van Schaik Rewards App from the Play Store.
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CUSTOMISE YOUR PROFILE
Edit personal information and choose lifestyle topics to get relevant content on your lockscreens.
App Guide.
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SIGN IN / REGISTER
Once the app has downloaded, you can sign-in if you are an existing user or register if you are new.
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ACCESS YOUR WALLET
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View available balances, remaining airtime & data bundles or Top-Up your Wallet.
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ACCESS YOUR SHOP
Use points earned in your Wallet on offers like discount vouchers for food, beverages, clothing and much more. Earn points by unlocking your phone and engaging with content. In Shop, you can also make use of VSB Mobile features that allow you to buy or send* airtime/data* (*only to friends on the Van Schaik network).
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6. SETTINGS
Go to Settings to view a digital version of your Van Schaik Rewards card. You can access your Inbox to view messages regarding your account history, transactions & balances.
App Guide.
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7. CONTACT SUPPORT/HELP
Contact Support directly from Settings if you need help.
CMB Multimedia does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/ or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher. © CMB Multimedia Ltd 2017
AFRICA
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR AFRICA’S INDUSTRY LEADERS
Published by CMB Multimedia Chris Bolderstone – General Manager E. chris@cmb-multimedia.com Sackville Place, 44-48 Magdalen Street, Norwich, NR3 1JU T. +44 (0) 20 8123 7859 E. info@cmb-multimedia.com www.cmb-multimedia.com
Issue No.62
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G4S DEPOSITA:
When Cash
is King
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
Van Schaik Bookstore / Zoona / IPSS / Safire Insurance
A S F E AT U R E D I N
ENTERPRISE AFRICA
SEPTEMBER 2017