Book 1, Online Japanese Book Delivery Service, to Launch
Seven Japanese firms have linked up to form Book 1 Inc., a joint venture that will run Book 1, a new Tokyo-based online bookstore. Headquartered in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward, Book 1 Inc. has an initial capitalization of 2 billion yen (just under $US19 million). Akira Ishii, president and CEO of TRC Library Service Inc., one of the seven partners, will serve as Book 1’s president and CEO.
The seven partners include TRC, Nikkei Business Publications Inc., Askul Corporation, Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Dentsu Inc., and NTT-ME Information Xing Inc.
The service will have access to both TRC’s existing hard inventory (20,000 titles) and the virtual inventory (about 200,000 titles) offered by Book 1’s business affiliates Tohan, Osakaya, Nikkyohan, and Taiyosha, Japan’s four wholesale book distributors.
The site will feature reviews provided by Book Review Inc., a new joint venture to be established between Nikkei BP, Nikkei, TRC and other companies. Publication data will include not only title and price, but also features to enable prospective purchasers to obtain a better idea of book content, such as reproduced extracts, lists of contents, and author profiles.
Book 1 will use one-to-one marketing by providing customer-specific information via e-mail and other media according to individual customer profiles and purchasing histories. Book 1 will also feed sales data back to publishers to help them forecast sales and decide publication plans.
Online services will begin in July 2000.
