For more than two centuries, Encyclopædia Britannica was the gold standard of reference, and for decades its business was built on a famous door-to-door sales force that sold expensive multi-volume sets to families. The sales force was the engine of the company, and the printed encyclopedia was a fixture of the middle-class home.
Then two disruptions arrived. First, in 1993, Microsoft launched Encarta, a multimedia encyclopedia on a CD-ROM that was cheap, convenient and good enough — and it gutted the market for expensive printed sets. Britannica's door-to-door sales collapsed, and the company disbanded its famous sales force in 1996. Then came the internet, and eventually Wikipedia, which offered a free, constantly updated encyclopedia online.
Britannica survived by moving online, but the print business that had defined it was gone. In March 2012, after 244 years, Encyclopædia Britannica announced it would stop publishing its printed edition altogether. The company that had sold knowledge door to door for generations had been undone first by a CD-ROM and then by the internet — a cautionary tale about how a dominant sales model and a beloved product can be destroyed when the medium of delivery changes.
Britannica disbanded its famous sales force in 1996 after Encarta's CD-ROM gutted the market, then ended print in 2012, surviving only by moving online.
Britannica's business was built on a door-to-door sales force selling expensive printed sets, a model that depended on print being the best medium for reference.
Microsoft's Encarta CD-ROM (1993) offered a cheap, convenient, good-enough alternative that gutted the market for expensive printed sets.
Britannica's door-to-door sales collapsed and the company disbanded its famous sales force in 1996.
The internet and then Wikipedia offered a free, constantly updated encyclopedia online; Britannica ended its print edition in 2012 after 244 years.
A beloved product and a dominant sales force are no protection when the medium changes. Britannica sold knowledge door to door for generations, then was undone by a CD-ROM and the internet.
Encyclopædia Britannica's end of print, after 244 years, marked the close of an era and a cautionary tale about technological disruption. The company survived by moving online, but the print business and the famous door-to-door sales force that had defined it were gone, undone first by a CD-ROM and then by the internet and Wikipedia. The lesson is durable: a business built on a particular medium is only as durable as that medium, and a trusted brand cannot survive the death of the medium it depends on if it fails to move to the new one in time.
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