基於消費者剩餘理論探討電子書營運獲利模式之研究

Abstract

近年來隨著使用者習慣的變遷，電子書產業開始蓬勃發展，但原本就激烈的市場競爭也隨之越演越烈。大多數的電子書相關業者雖然積極對電子書市場進行佈局，也嘗試、提出了許多的商業經營模式，但真正自電子書產業獲利的業者，卻仍寥寥可數，多數的市場參與者仍處於摸索階段，且遲遲不得其門而入。 網際網路不僅讓電子書的銷售得以無所不在，也強化了電子書市場銷售的「長尾效應」，使得99%的商品都有銷售的機會。然而究其根本，電子書與其他資訊商品同樣具有著「高製作成本、低再製成本」的特質，因此其銷售與商品單位價格的取決，可以更根本的從「消費者剩餘理論」來加以解釋。因此，本研究導入英國古典學派經濟學家馬歇爾( A. Marshall)提出之「消費者剩餘」（Consumer Surplus, CS）概念，以探討電子書營運獲利模式，並進而透過文獻內容分析和質性深度訪談的方式，利用「消費者剩餘概念」探討長尾銷售效應下的電子書產業可能的獲利商業模式，最後提出結論與建議。

Because of the changes of users’ behavior for recent years, Electronic book industry has gradually risen. The booming market brings the competition. In this “new” industry, many participants try to develop many market or selling strategies for market layout. But the winner who can earn profits from E-book market is minority. Most participants still grope in the dark and cannot find the way out. Via Internet, E-book can sell without the Physical Channel. It strengthens the “The Long Tail effect” in E-book market. This makes almost 99% products have the selling opportunities. But in spite of that E-book still have the same characteristics with other information products. They have high production cost but low re-production cost. For this reason, its selling tactic and unit price would be hinge on consumer’s “value.” That could be explained by “Consumer Surplus Theory.” Therefore, this study would apply British Classic Economist, A Marshall’s “Consumer Surplus Theory” to analyze and deduce the profit model for E-book market. In this study, qualitative interview and content analysis are adopted as the research methods to support and examine the E-Book’s Long Tail business model based on “Consumer Surplus Theory.” The final conclusions and recommendations were then summarized and presented at the end of this research study.