Packback Final Beta Results

The closed Packback beta at Illinois State University presents approximately one thousand students with the opportunity to rent a digital version of their textbook for $3 to $5 per day (24 hours of access). A semester-long rental (180 days of access) option is also presented for students who require more regular usage of their textbook. Packbacks beta is supplemented by an intensive qualitative and quantitative research study by Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, a strategic marketing research firm located in Chicago, IL. Students are surveyed twice in the semester, on weeks 1 and 12 of their class as part of participating in the beta.

Total Sample with 3 Publishers

994 total students across 21 different courses 681 out of 994 students were surveyed Departments represented: Accounting, Anthropology, Biology, Communications, Education, Family & Consumer Sciences, Geography, History, Kinesiology, Management, Marketing, Music, Psychology, and Technology.

Survey Results
53% of students arrived to class on week 1 without purchasing their book 8.7% of students purchased either a new hardcopy book or eTextbook 73.5% reported being very interested or interested in using the Packback service. Used book users, used-rental users, students that borrow textbooks or engage in piracy, and students that do not purchase textbooks at all were 94.7% more likely to be very interested in Packback than new book purchasers.

Beta Results, Publisher Impact

Publisher Revenue without Packback (new book, eTextbook, and digital platform sales): $7,162.64 Publisher New Revenue from Packback: $4,133.66 57.71% total increase in revenue for backlist products Publisher sell-through/student adoption pre-Packback: 8.66% of students Publisher sell-through with Packback: 31.98%

Impact to Adoption and Sell-through

(among all publishers)

Table 1 - Textbook Purchases by Type

What type of textbook did you obtain this semester?

Survey Completes New Used eTextbook (non Packback) Non Purchasers Packback

Week 1 Survey 681 8.66% (59) 37% (254) 1% (7) 53% (361) N/A

Week 12 Survey 599 9.5% (57) 55.4% (332) 1% (6) 10.7% (67) 22.9% (137)

Table 2 Source of Packback Userbase

If you had not used Packback, what would you have done for this class?

New Used eTextbook (non Packback)* Non Purchasers

137 total users 0% (0) 82% (112) 6% (8) 12% (17)

*Five out of eight of these users converted into Packback 180 day rentals.

Table 3 Projected Semester Without Packback

(from Table 2)

Week 12 (actual) Completes New Used eTextbook (non Packback) Non Purchasers Packback 599 9.5% (57) 55.4% (332) 1% (6) 10.7% (67) 22.9% (137)

Week 12 without Packback (projected) 599 9.5% (57) 74.1% (444) 2.3% (14) 14% (84) N/A

User Feedback
Packback users were asked feedback in the quantitative study. A follow-up round of in-depth interviews will occur will also occur to gain qualitative insights. The following were open-ended questions requiring write-in responses, and below are the top most mentioned answers. What did you particularly like about Packback? 1) Good value 2) Saved money 3) Pay per use What did you not so much like about Packback? 1) Issues with Adobe for the ebook 2) Prefer physical book