“We launched readbox eight years ago. Our goal was to use technology and marketing know-how to create solutions designed to get the book industry into shape for the coming digital ‘shift’, which affects much more than just ‘content’. In our industry, the forces of digitisation have also created a market shift from provider (vendor) to consumer (end user), and the concept of the ‘book’ as we still understand it today continues to play an increasingly subordinate role, especially from the point of view of our young and growing target groups. Although we have long since established our position in the industry, we are nevertheless still a young tech company, which is why we see CONTENTshift as a highly promising initiative that we’re happy to support as ‘catalysts’”. Ralf Biesemeier
Today, publishers face the challenge of transforming into marketing-focused companies that see their “products” as being part of an overall marketing mix. In other words, they need to know how to sell their products at certain prices and via certain channels and also what kind of communication to use when addressing certain target-group segments. eBooks are not the only tools publishers can use to survive in the face of the current glut of media. Indeed, their digital strategy needs to go even further, i.e. the focus should be on the processes underway in the companies themselves, and these must be brought in line with the demands and requirements of our digital society. This is precisely where readbox comes in. We are a software company that researches and develops sustainable, tech-based solutions that allow publishers to produce, market and sell their physical and digital content faster, more efficiently and in more affordable and market-oriented ways. Led by our founders, we work independently of publishers to offer exactly the right foundation for the further development of tech and marketing-centred ideas, concepts and entrepreneurs.
Ralf Biesemeier heads up the leading German tech provider readbox. The company supplies publishers and other content providers with software and tech-based solutions that help to produce, market and sell their content faster, more efficiently and in a more affordable way. Their clients include companies such as Arena, Bastei Lübbe, Carlsen, Carl Hanser, Cornelsen, HarperCollins Germany and Haufe-Lexware. readbox sells over one million eBooks every month in (retail) trade and direct business on behalf of its publishing clients. Before founding readbox, Ralf Biesemeier amassed over ten years of experience as a marketing and managing director at a number of tech companies. For example, he was VP Marketing at an international biometry provider and Director of Product Innovation at a major US industrial company. He also managed the market entry of a German manufacturer of industrial software solutions. He holds a degree BA (Hons) in Business Studies from the University of Abertay Dundee, Great Britain.