A Multi-Sided Business Model : Case Study of Eslite Bookstore

• Main Authors: Chiu, Chien-Hsiang, 邱建翔
• Other Authors: Han, Anthony F.
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53030767535152321359

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 企業管理碩士學程 === 99 === Many modern enterprises adopt multi-sided business model, such as credit card companies, portal websites and software companies such as Microsoft. The business model serves a platform to link two or more distinct but interdependent groups of customers, and creates values and mechanism by facilitating interactions between the different groups. The leading bookstore in Taiwan, Eslite Bookstore, is not purely a bookstore from consumers’ perspective. It has been developing into a cultural platform offering space for promoting cultural activities and different lifestyle experience. In recent years, there has been a dramatic proliferation of research concerned with the experiential marketing of Eslite Bookstore, while few study its unique business model. This study adopts the multi-sided business model and the Business Model Canvas created by Osterwader & Pigneur, and is aimed to analyze how Eslite Bookstores sustains its business between the culture and commerce. Four findings are worth summarizing: First, Eslite Bookstores is the first business adopting multi-sided model in its industry. Second, Eslite Bookstore has solved the chicken-and-egg problem based on its valuable brand asset and has had a unique subsidy policy, so that Eslite Bookstore is able to keep the different groups on the platform. Third, Eslite Bookstore differentiates itself by providing unique values to all the customers segments by offering irreplaceable goods or services that competitors can’t provide. Four, a multi-sided business takes a long time to form and it may vary in different industries.