Ingram Digital survey of 680 e-book users uncovers key drivers behind surge in digital textbook adoption

Spearheaded by the Ingram’s Education Solutions unit, survey reveals that consumers are motivated by cost, convenience and interactivity

LA VERGNE, TN – June 19, 2008—Ingram Digital, the Ingram Content company focused on solutions for digital content management, distribution and promotion, today announced a new survey of e-book users that confirms the top three factors driving a surge in adoption of digital textbooks that led January-May sales to surpass 2007 results by more than 400 percent.

Ingram Digital’s Education Solutions unit conducted the survey of a sample of its user base, which exceeds 24,000 students and educators. Data from the survey’s 680 respondents revealed that when deciding whether to purchase a digital title, 47 percent believe that “cost in relation to print copies” is very important. A similar proportion of respondents identified the convenience of e-books (46 percent) and interactive features (45 percent) as also being very important.

“Our survey shows that while the price of digital textbooks is important to consumers, so are other benefits of e-book technology,” commented William Chesser, Vice President and General Manager of Ingram Digital Education Solutions. “The VitalSource™ platform’s student oriented features – such as advanced search, highlighting, annotation and note-sharing – are uniquely aligned with the needs and expectations of consumers, as our sales numbers demonstrate.”

Ingram Digital’s VitalSource is the digital textbook platform of choice among top academic publishers. By Fall 2008, inventory offered in Ingram Digital’s cutting-edge VitalBookTM format will include hundreds of frontlist titles by McGraw-Hill, Wiley, Elsevier, and other publishers. VitalSource-powered textbooks are available for most disciplines, from anthropology to computer science. They may be purchased online and at college bookstores nationwide.

“By regularly tapping students and professors for feedback, we are able to continue enriching the VitalSource platform with features that truly optimize the learning process,” Chesser said. “Our knowledge of higher education e-textbook end users has been accumulated over more than seven years and is reflected in the success we are enjoying today.”

ABOUT INGRAM DIGITAL Ingram Digital is an Ingram Content company. Together with Ingram Lightning Group, the Ingram Content Companies provide a broad range of physical and digital services to the book industry. Ingram Digital provides publishers and other content owners with a comprehensive offering of digital content accession, storage, management and distribution services. Ingram Digital currently has several solution platforms – including MyiLibrary and VitalSource Technologies – which serve the institutional and educational markets respectively. In addition, Ingram Digital also serves the retailer market with full e-book and audio downloads as well as various search-and-discovery and marketing tools such as widgets. For more information, visit www.ingramdigital.com.

- end -