Thursday, March 07, 2013

A Netfix For Children's Books?



Netflix for Children’s books sounds interesting but hasn’t Amazon already put a stake in the ground with their ‘FreeTime’ start-up service?
US start-up Sproutkin, is a new US subscription service for books for children aged between 0 and 3 and 3 and 6. Like a book club it is based regular shipments of up to ten new books to its older members and some two to four books for its younger members. All members pay a monthly subscription of $24.99. It also works with a small educational advisory board to select its books to ensure their selections are relevant and quality. It aims to create many ‘happy sprouts’ or children who it happily posts on their web-site.
It sounds a good option for busy parents with claims of 45% discount on the younger material and 60% for the older material, but is the selection going to appeal to all and although the volume appears logical do the parents that would commit to this service not be the same parents who want to find their own material?
The terms sheet is an exercise itself but one of the opening lines is somewhat confusing, ‘The Company provides a place for purchasing and borrowing children’s educational and entertainment materials delivered physically and electronically.’ Also we loved the catch all, ‘The Company may, in its sole discretion, modify or update this Agreement from time to time, and so you should review this page periodically.’
So what doe sit what to be when it grows up? If the answer is another ‘FreeTime’ it is likely to loose on clarity, width of offer and price.

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