Conquering impatience with little cash
Internet With e-Cash appearing a day earlier, the Ringier business paper is targeting Swiss multinationals and the impatient in particular.
Internet With e-Cash appearing a day earlier, Ringier's business paper is primarily targeting multinational Swiss companies and the impatient.André Michel, Managing Director of Borsalino and member of Ringier's Business Media Management Board, puts it bluntly: "What cash.ch has offered so far was simply unworthy of Switzerland's leading business newspaper." With the launch in mid-April of e-Cash, the new full version of the newspaper on the Web, for which a fee is charged, a first step has now been taken to expand the online offering both quantitatively and qualitatively, he says. To ensure that the virtual menu also whets the appetite, subscribers to the Internet version will receive their e-Cash as early as Thursday, i.e. one day earlier than the newspaper.Hundreds of subscriptionsHowever, Michel is not setting his expectations particularly high. "It certainly won't be thousands, but maybe a few hundred," he estimates the number of subscribers who will only order the Internet version. The business manager has two main target groups in mind: On the one hand, people living in Switzerland who are temporarily moving abroad and don't want to do without their business newspaper. On the other hand, multinationally active Swiss companies. "For such companies, it could be attractive to provide their employees working abroad with quick access to current topics on the Swiss economy - by providing them with a subscription to e-Cash."
But the one-day earlier publication is also an attractive USP for certain Swiss audience segments. "For example, for people who are involved in the stock market and want to access information as immediately as possible. On the other hand, there are also impatient Cash subscribers who spend the extra 20 francs so that they can browse a little on the Internet in advance," explains Michel.
One thing, however, is clear: e-Cash sees itself primarily as an additional distribution channel for the print edition of Cash, but one that is not designed to generate high revenues. This is due to the low additional investment for the online newspaper - according to Michel "thanks to the
already existing infrastructure under 50000 francs per year" - also not mandatory.
Password problems can be solvedThe problem of access authorization for e-Cash subscribers has not yet been definitively solved. One could, after all, come up with the idea of subscribing to the online newspaper only once, but then passing the password on to other employees by e-mail. "We will limit possible misuse, in such a way that a maximum of two or a maximum of three logins can be made at the same time with the same password in a given period of time," says Michel. At the very least, he says, this will put a stop to abuse on a larger scale. "Abuse on a smaller scale, on the other hand, hardly bothers us. Even Cash in paper format is read by more than five people per copy. And our main goal is to generate as many readers as possible."
Ringier's main aim with e-Cash is to generate additional readers.
But the one-day earlier publication is also an attractive USP for certain Swiss audience segments. "For example, for people who are involved in the stock market and want to access information as immediately as possible. On the other hand, there are also impatient Cash subscribers who spend the extra 20 francs so that they can browse a little on the Internet in advance," explains Michel.
One thing, however, is clear: e-Cash sees itself primarily as an additional distribution channel for the print edition of Cash, but one that is not designed to generate high revenues. This is due to the low additional investment for the online newspaper - according to Michel "thanks to the
already existing infrastructure under 50000 francs per year" - also not mandatory.
Password problems can be solvedThe problem of access authorization for e-Cash subscribers has not yet been definitively solved. One could, after all, come up with the idea of subscribing to the online newspaper only once, but then passing the password on to other employees by e-mail. "We will limit possible misuse, in such a way that a maximum of two or a maximum of three logins can be made at the same time with the same password in a given period of time," says Michel. At the very least, he says, this will put a stop to abuse on a larger scale. "Abuse on a smaller scale, on the other hand, hardly bothers us. Even Cash in paper format is read by more than five people per copy. And our main goal is to generate as many readers as possible."
Ringier's main aim with e-Cash is to generate additional readers.
Get a day ahead with e-CashSince mid-April, the business newspaper Cash has been available as a full version in the
Internet available. Subscribers to e-Cash pay 184 francs per year - the same as for the paper edition. For an additional 20 francs, they also receive the newspaper delivered. Of course, the reverse is also possible. To an existing
Newspaper subscription can be purchased for 20 francs
the new Internet offer can also be booked. In contrast to other full versions of print media on the Internet, which usually take longer to download, e-Cash is characterized by rapid data transfer, according to its creators. (dse)
Daniel Schifferle
