The Home As School

With the entry of DKFL, the nascent children's literature market in India seems all set to witness a battle royale with aggressive marketing strategies geared to combat cut-throat competition. But Kindersley brushes aside such queries regarding competition saying that there's ample room for everyone, one just needs to know how to tap it. And the DKFL success story is a case in point. DKFL, the direct marketing arm of the parent company Dorling Kindersley, was born with the concept of the home being the first school and parents the first teachers. Kindersley hopes to capitalise on this with a two-pronged strategy—firstly, focus on the spread of literacy through DK information books providing relevant information at all stages of life, from early childhood through school, to work, hobbies and retirement, and secondly, generate employment through the unique DKFL marketing plan. Its USP: high quality, exemplary standards, fun learning, and finally, a product brought directly to the consumer's doorstep.

DKFL books combine well-crafted text, beautiful photos often shot against a white background and attractive designs. Titles like David Macaulay's The Way Things Work and the Eye Witness Guide series have sold over 2.4 million and 34 million copies respectively and been translated into over 30 languages.

"We've been very successful in the bookstores here, but finally they cater to a limited number. Selling is much easier if you go to their homes," explains Kind-ersley. But, he asserts, direct selling here does not mean door-to-door. The distribution network works through the Party Plan. Consultants (read agents) throw book parties to which friends are invited and through word of mouth the network grows. "Apart from generating interest in the books, it's a great way of getting people interested in selling them as well," explains Kindersley.

What's interesting about DKFL is its adaptability. For children here brought up on a borrowed diet of western concepts, it offers books which tell them about themselves and their counterparts around the world. And very soon, says Kindersley, they plan to Indianise more of their children's books, with Hindi editions on the cards. At present, DKFL has launched 71 titles and 13 CD-ROMS in India. The latter to combat the competition for a child's time from mindless TV and computer games. Their Learning with Multimedia CD-ROM series titles include

Dinosaur Hunter, Castle Explorer, Chronicle of the 20th Century, Encyclopaedia of Science and others. With a £1-million sales target at the end of the first financial year, 1998 could well be the Year of Discovery for the Indian child.