About Us

BRIEF HISTORY

Eurospan was launched in the mid-1960s to provide a marketing and distribution capability for a group of medium-sized US textbook publishers, to include Houghton Mifflin and Scott Foresman and Co., which none could afford to mount individually. By combining their potential, the fledgling company was able to compete successfully on their behalf with European-based subsidiaries of the American publishing giants.

As the years passed, Eurospan successfully adapted to the changing needs and priorities of its marketplace and grew steadily by adding first a range of academic publishers, to include Greenwood Press and Sage Publications, and then a number of university and institutional presses to include New York University Press and Smithsonian Institution Press.

In the mid 1990s, and to accommodate its rapid expansion, three separate and distinct marketing divisions were established - Academic & Trade, University Presses and Medical. With the acquisition of Electronica Books & Media Limited, a sales agency specialising in the distribution of US technical societies and institutes, a fourth division - Scientific & Technical - was created. Finally, 2007 saw the birth of a Reference marketing division.

CUSTOMER PROFILE

Eurospan’s end customer is most usually a teaching or research academic, or a professional practitioner, and in many case the library affiliated to one or other of these two groups. Notwithstanding Eurospan’s emphasis on direct marketing, the vast majority of sales are ultimately affected through bookshops, wholesalers, library suppliers and, more recently through e-tailers such as Amazon.co.uk and The Book Depository. This phenomenon reflects the UK and Europe's traditional practice of routing book orders, howsoever generated, through a recognised bookselling channel, most usually in the purchaser's immediate vicinity.

USP

Eurospan is one of the few agents able to provide the complete range of sales, promotion and distribution services under one umbrella. In joining Eurospan, publishers increase their sales, enhance image and minimise all associated costs of servicing a multifarious marketplace comprising different countries, languages and practices.  More importantly perhaps, agreement with Eurospan provides a European base which - with the continuing expansion of the EC - is a prerequisite in order to benefit fully from the related opportunities.

TERRITORIAL EXPANSION

Eurospan is now fully functioning in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) arena. A network of sub-agents and sales representatives, co-ordinated by a dedicated Regional Manager, has been established across five key territories – Central Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, Far East and Australasia. New Books catalogues, distributed seasonally to the book trade and to libraries, are backed with a direct mail programme of subject-specific leaflets and a range of e-mailings. Eurospan book displays are now a regular feature at the Delhi, Beijing, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur International Book Fairs, while products have also been prominently displayed this year at meetings such as the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress in Sydney, the International Children's Educational Book Fair in Beijing and the Japan Geoscience Union Annual Conference, in Tokyo. For 2012, we have already committed to a dozen academic and/or professional meetings across the region.

In the past year Eurospan executives have met with customers and trading partners in Melbourne, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Taipei and Beijing. In 2012, they will do the same in Delhi, Lahore, Seoul and Tokyo. Given that the solid revenue growth we have experienced this year shows little sign of slowing down, we have also moved ahead with plans to open a series of local sales/customer service offices – the first of which, opened its doors in Melbourne, on 1st December 2011.

More than fifty publishers are now are signed up to our Asia-Pacific programme. Some are expanding into the market for the first time; others have taken the practical decision to replace a cumbersome collection of country-based representation agreements with a single account – Eurospan.  In all cases, the results have been positive for both sides.

For more details on these services, to include a list of countries covered, please email: asia-pacific@eurospangroup.com

SUMMARY

Eurospan is proud of its long-standing relationships with its clients. Many of its associations go back twenty-five years or more. This reflects not only its continuing success, but also an ability to understand and accommodate the changing needs of the publishers it serves.