Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am compelled to ask: Why would people pay to rent something that they didn`t want to use for free?

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"Ask not, know not." --Me

Indonesia`s political environment is such that people very much want to use books, but the price has been driven sky high, due to government intervention.

that`s right.
the government here put luxury taxes on books, as absurd as it is.
there`s nothing free in indonesia; you even have to pay to pee here
exaggerating, while it`s true to some extent.
anyway, let`s just say that a typical book here will cost you 50.000 (in my currency). a typical wage of an employee here is 1.500.000-2.000.000, even for those with a family.

a typical daily living costs would be 20.000-50.000/day, and that`s 600.000-1.500.000/month.
2.000.000-600.000= 1.400.000. minus utilities, medicals, leisures, etc.
you`ll give thanks to have a saving.
now under this condition, if you can rent books as much as you want at just one price, will you buy them?

yet singstothewind has the point: it won`t be easy.
if i can spend my money in movies, games, cafes, and others, why would i spend it on books?
sometimes i think that books here are just a complementary to our people`s daily life, you don`t have to have one. people here would rather going for a short entertainment than reading long books. is it the same thing someplace else, that people starting to cease reading books and replacing them with movies and audios?

Awe,
Your idea makes sense, theoretically. As we`ve discussed previously, it`s an issue of if it makes sense business-wise.

The two above posts bring out the main issue: How much *really* do the citizens in your expected market area value books and reading? Secondly, how do you know? Are there studies or some sort of objective data?

that`s right craig, it does make sense theoretically, but no one knows what it would be unless we really try it.
right now, all i`ve got is a tingling sense that it will work if i did it, an intuition.
but, hey, we can`t build a business based on mere intuition, right?
that`s why i`m thinking of testing this business idea, a feasibility study, run with a close-counter group of 100 people, mostly friends and family, and heavy-load it.
we`ll run a maximum-load tests on every aspects of this business including calls, deliveries, payment, customer service, etc.
let`s see if the result shows up good

A feasibility study would be just the ticket! You`re right, a feeling isn`t good enough. On the other hand, you can lose a lot of money by doing something just to see if it would work, if you do it on too large a scale.

How could you invest a minimal amount--enough to give real results---without going broke? But also, where you would clearly determine if this is a viable business with a strong potential to grow?

Wait, I re-read the above, to see the 100-person group. I`m thinking you`re right, it would work. What sort of books would you choose as your starting inventory?

i`ll set up enough cash to run this feasibility test on 3 months straight, followed by a month or two of evaluation period before we decided to go launch or not.
i think we`ll provide books in fast-moving and most-demanding category in my region:
self-help/motivational books, business/how-to get rich books, magazines and story books (novels, comics, etc.).
the great thing is, we can buy these books second-hand low-priced from the local used books market near my place, so we don`t have to spend too much on inventories as a startup.
the downside is, people here love to go for what`s now and what`s new.
so i guess we need to build a community of booklovers, else we have to race with the currents and spend lots of money in piling up new books all the time.

I am sure I have missed something.  Were libraries in Indonesia not public assets--in other words, were they not free to use (for the price of a card) as they are here in America?  If not, how much did it cost to "rent" a book from the "library"?  And did that business model not already fail?  Can you afford to do the same thing at a cost that will make your model more appealing than the one that came before?

If you really think your model would fly, why not do a preliminary statistical demographics research project?  It doesn`t have to be a fancy thing; just find out, statistically, what the most popular choices are in reading materials among your broadest demographic group.  When you conclude your findings, do your initial feasibility study (or run a small model) based on offering the genres and selections most likely to appeal to the most people in your area.  If that works, you will be certain to grow your selection and clientèle from that point. 


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"Ask not, know not." --Me