Selling ebooks

Vivlio offers a complete solution to facilitate ebook distribution and sales for publishers and booksellers.
Vivlio has developed a suite of components to enable you deliver the best possible customer experience in ebook purchase and reading: “white label” web sites, specialized sites for e-ink devices, mobile apps for smartphones and tablets, catalog presentation, ebook merchandise availability and ordering process tools etc.
Our solution is backed up by our own digital warehouse, managed by Vivlio and offering a French language catalog of over 500,000 references drawn from the catalogs of 700 publishers. Where necessary, files can be protected with Vivlio’s own DRM, CARE, based on Readium LCP. Our easy-to-use solution facilitates reader access to protected content.

Multiple mediums of sales

Retail websites designed to boost ebook sales:

Vivlio ecommerce solutions allow you to develop ebook sales over the web, with hundreds of thousands of titles available.
Our turnkey solutions and white-label offerings make it easy for you to launch your own self-managed website with your own branding scheme.
If you already have your own site up and running we offer a suite of tools to give your customers access to integrate the Vivlio ebook catalog.

Develop mobile sales:

Independently of your web solution, Vivlio also offers apps supporting ebook sales on mobile devices. Our ereader apps can be customized to facilitate end-user access to ebooks purchased from the retailer. Optionally apps can include an online ebook store (in-app purchasing).

And of course, you can sell via the ebook reader:

The ebook reader is the preferred device for dedicated ebook fans. With Vivlio ebook readers, end-users have direct access to an online shop without having to switch to another device. When a Vivlio ebook reader is first initialized it connects directly to the online bookshop preconfigured for the partner selling the device.
Vivlio has invested in the development of an online bookstore optimized for e-ink screens, with the features of classic ecommerce sites, customizable to integrate your branding and to give you control over the selection of titles on offer.

Promote ebook offering in bookstores and on the web

An extensive ebook catalog

Our catalog covers practically the full extent of French language publishing with over 500,000 titles from over 700 publishers including Hachette, Editis, Flammarion, Gallimard, La Martinière, Odile Jacob, Iznéo and many more.
Vivlio’s catalog is continuously added to, with new titles and new publishers offering a vast range of choices and constant renewal. International development is marked by the recent addition of Hachette UK and Books on Demand.
At Vivlio we operate our own digital warehouse giving us flexible control over rights management (DRM, watermarking) and facilitating a highly reactive technical support operation for our partners. Our own DRM solution CARE, based on Readium LCP, delivers an improved user experience when compared with competing solutions.

Gift an ebook

Deployed by many of our retail partners – Decitre, Furet du Nord or Cultura, to name a few – Vivlio allows for end-users to purchase and gift ebooks (or to request ebooks as gifts). With a few clicks a user can buy an ebook and send it by email to the person of their choice, with a personalized message. The recipient collects their ebook gift through their own account (creating a new account if necessary). Features include the option to have the gift delivered on a specific date – very practical for a surprise birthday present, for example!

Liven up your digital offering

Creating a buzz around your ebook offering requires special skills, not necessarily the same as you’ll find with other ecommerce sites. That’s why Vivlio will work alongside you to enrich your messaging across your marketing tools and to optimize your follow-up on publisher marketing operations. The Vivlio retailer network gives us additional leverage with publishers in large-scale promotions.
Our editorial team can help with:

developing sales promotions
effective communications around promotions
PoS actions
Customer base communications, including differential profiling
development of marketing tools (banner ads, newsletters, etc)

Highlight your ebook offering in-shop and on the web

At Vivlio we believe the ebook deserves a place in bricks-and-mortar bookshops as well as in online stores. Vivlio can supply you with the POS tools to spotlight your ebook offering in-shop. On request we can work with you on POS design and deployment and on-site marketing actions to develop your ebook sales.
Some examples:

joint pitch in response to a publisher’s RFP for an ebook promotional campaign
an in-store ebook loaner campaign with pre-loaded books
development of in-store ebook introductory and advanced skills workshops

Professional services that meet your needs

Bringing an ebook offer to market requires the implication of your whole team. Digital isn’t just another product, it’s a new format complementing traditional print products and it will enhance your offer at every level. Introducing and monetizing an ebook offering needs planning and preparation. It needs time (not always easy to find) while ebook sales may still be just a small percentage of your turnover. But developing the full potential of ebook sales in store or on the web takes commitment.
As ebook experts with experience acquired through partnership with over 40 bookshops with varied profiles, Vivlio has developed a professional services offering to help partners kickstart or relaunch their ebook strategy. Staff training, in-store activities, marketing support, customer support, and custom development projects are just some of the made-to-measure services available from Vivlio.

Train your staff in ebook sales and support
Since 2013 Vivlio has been an officially authorized training center for ebook solutions. We deliver over 15 training sessions every year, most of which qualify as ongoing professional education.
Staff training is one of the keys to success in the ebook market. Ebooks, ebook readers and ebook apps are specialized products which your staff need to understand and be familiar with to insure successful sales and support.
Our training programs are designed to give your staff the technical, functional and sales tools necessary for effective marketing, sales and after-sales support of ebooks and readers. Ongoing on-the-job knowledge acquisition is measured by periodic testing.
Full day and half day sessions can be delivered by Vivlio trainers at the Vivlio offices in Lyon or on your own premises.
Content Management
Vivlio support for your business includes close collaboration in ongoing sales development. We operate a team of e-booksellers in permanent contact with publishers so that we’re in at the start on new title launches and key sales and promotional operations. Our team regularly contacts your staff to review upcoming ebook promo campaigns. On request we can provide resources to assist in promotional activities based around your online presence and your customer base.
The Content Management team works alongside our partners on product promotions and publisher relations, covering:
- Sales relations: on behalf of our clients, negotiating content, promo campaigns, and better T&Cs for digital product. Actions based around your online presence and your customer base.
- Publisher relations: Consolidating feedback for publishers on best sellers in our partner network and those of our competitors, with a weekly review of market leader sales promotions.
Customer Care
Like all technology products, the ebook environment requires a quality support operation for your customers, your readers. The Vivlio Customer Care team works with your customer support operation to continuously improve end-user support, through training, a partner wiki, online assistance, trouble ticket management, and social network tools.