Introduction
Audible.com is an Amazon subsidiary that provides customers with premium digital spoken audio entertainment and information online, by offering a new enhanced way to enrich their daily lives. Audible content includes above 100,000 audio programs from above 1,800 content providers including many leading audio book broadcasters, publishers, magazine, entertainers, business information providers and newspaper publishers. All data at Audible.com is downloaded digitally and it can be played on more than 500 popular devices (Audible.com).
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Audible.com has large collection of audio books that are high-quality and some aren’t available anywhere else. Audible.com has the majority market share in the Audio content selling industry, and the amount of content on the site keeps on increasing with passage of time. Currently they only advertise in United States, still due to word of mouth they have customers in more than 100 countries. Downloading at Audible.com is pretty simple and files can be used in many audio players. It barely takes a few minutes to download and work the files downloaded with iTunes. Customers can get flipping bargains on Children books; some even have illustrations moving as videos while the story is active on audio. Audible.com has loyal customer base and few valuable partnerships with firms like Amazon.com, Microsoft, AT&T among others. Audible also offers its customers with price consistency as one credit applies to all books available on the site. Audible content includes above 100,000 audio programs from above 1,800 content providers including many leading audio book broadcasters, publishers, magazine, entertainers, business information providers and newspaper publishers. Audio books at Audible.com are a bargain in comparison to audio books which need individual to sit in their studio and get them recorded (Kline).
Weakness
Shopping experience and quality of user interface of Audible.com is inferior to other online sites of Amazon.com. The UX design and branding lacks throughout the experience of using Audible.com, it is geared for someone who lacks user experience of well designed online sites. The on-site navigation is also highly clunky, especially finding features such as Tell-a-Friend link on the site. The selection of titles is highly decent but Audible.com does not have audio books for every book available on site. Customers only get a one book a month for $14.95 and assuming the hard copy costs $20, the savings are waste for people who love to have book to place on their shelf. In case a customer needs to spend more than 1 or 2 credits that come with the subscription plan, customers need to pay the outrageous rates that Audible charges their customers. Audibel.com does offer free content to their members but due to poor on-site navigation it is difficult to find them and it takes time to locate them. Finally, the search feature at Audible.com is also not very user-friendly and I would personally recommend them to place Google search to attract and retain customers. Audible.om offers only downloadable digital content and with no streaming option for audio many customers might find it technologically lagging behind (Kline).
Opportunities
Audible.com is well known for their service quality among their customers, but their future potential is what attracted Amazon to pay $300 million to acquire it. Despite not advertising in any other country than United States, they have regular customers from more than 100 countries all over the world. With the growth of the company and increase in advertising budget, the growth potential of Audible.com in coming years is unlimited. Audible.com has great opportunity to explore the potential of Ecommerce which helps them reach millions in many parts of the world. Audible.com has found new ways in pushing their products to their customers, through their website and strong partnerships with firms like Amazon.com. They are also pursuing new partnerships after successful operation of many years, through the B2B model with E&Y, Microsoft and AT&T. These partnerships with multinational corporations will be explored and applied with business content that will help them in running their business more efficient manner. Audible.com also has high hopes from their AudibleReady player which they have placed in a Michigan library where patrons can check it out and learn to use their choice of Audible content (Dailytekk).
Threats
In January 2013, Audiobooks.com reduced their 1-year subscription rates to compete better with Audible.com. This can have significant effect as customers tires of not getting enough discount from Audible can switch their future purchases to Audiobooks.com. Also, Audiobooks.com is aiming to win customers on the basis of their user interface and their proprietary cloudmark sync technology that permits users to pick-up listening from the same spot while moving between different devices. The rise of streaming audio also serves as a potential threat to Audible.com, as many customers might be interested in streamed audio and can find the feature of downloading content as lackluster. Audible.com also faces competition from traditional clubs and bookstores, especially for customers who prefer written and spoken word (Perez).
Conclusion
Audible.com has been selling audio books for almost two decades now and it is at present the world’s largest producer for downloadable audio books. Audible.com is a subscription based service which allows users to listen to books and other content while they are driving, running, working or doing any other activity. Their service offers much more to customers who love to read but lack time, but more importantly for customers that need access to one of the largest collection of audio content.
Works Cited
Perez, S. "Audiobooks.com Drops Prices To Compete With Amazon’s Audible." Techcrunch. Techcrunch.com, 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
"Audible.com: The Audiobook Service I Love and Hate Simultaneously." DailyTekk. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
Kline, E. "Audible.com – Review." 40Tech, 22 Apr. 2010. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
“About Audible”. Audible. Audible.com. n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
