“E-commerce has become mainstream while selling books”

E-commerce has changed the way we shop, even for books. Here, Shubham Jain shares the journey of Bookswagon.com, which was founded in October 2013 and has come a long way since then.

Genre of books

“We offer huge collection of books in diverse category of fiction, non-fiction, biographies, history, religions, self -help, and children. We also sell in vast collection of investments and management, computers, engineering, medical, college and school text references books proposed by different institutes as syllabus across the country. At the same time, we also offer a large collection of E-Books at a very competitive price,” tells Shubham.

Changes in book trade

“The book industry in India has undergone significant changes over the last decade, and is set to evolve in newer directions. The key areas involved in book industry — publishing, marketing, sales and distribution have evolved in different ways. And in last 5-6 years, retail sales dipped drastically as online sales grew. And ironically, the major distributors are deriving the bulk of their revenues from online sales directly or indirectly,” shares Shubham.

Benefits of e-commerce…

“E-commerce has become mainstream while selling books with profound benefits. From big publishers to distributors and of course, library suppliers which are operating from their respective homes are reaping great benefits while selling online. As the speed of the growth in E-commerce in India is remarkable and factors such as increased smartphone usage, convenient and economic internet access etc. are playing pivotal role in today’s online selling & buying both. Now not only individuals but we have experienced that many institutes, colleges & schools are shifting their focus from traditional buying from their respective vendors to buying online,” tells Shubham.

Covid crisis sees a surge in demand…

“As people have embraced social distancing as a way to slow the spread of the pandemic, there has naturally been a drop-off in brick-and-mortar shopping. That means, there is a huge surge in online shopping as people turn to ecommerce. In addition to grocery, ecommerce covers a wide number of products, across categories and books are making a perfect example of one of those commodities selling online and it makes us thrilled to see a great amount of sales during this pandemic. However, there are few challenges which are dealing with, firstly the logistics since the major chunk of our stocks come from overseas, therefore, we did have major problems in Imports ever since the lockdown was lifted and then of course the operational challenges are always there until this pandemic comes to an end and last but not the least the health factors of ourselves and our employees. Since the cases are only going up in Delhi, so we are taking extreme care to make sure the wellbeing of our employees, whether it is screening of each employee or sanitization of the workplace or mandatory usage of masks. We are not compromising with the health of our employees,” shares Shubham.

Future ahead…

“India is rapidly marching towards becoming a digitally empowered society and the e-commerce industry has been directly impacting micro, small & medium enterprises. And if we talk about Indian Book Industry, it is directly proportionate to Indian Education Industry as India has one of the largest networks of higher education institutions in the world. Therefore, book industry has a huge potential in the coming future and we are so sure, the e-commerce will prove to be the most important medium to bridge the gap between the buyer and seller as the post Covid market scenario will be totally different to what it used to be in March 2020,” concludes Shubham optimistically.

Pearson India launches
New Impressions for young readers

In line with its commitment to help learners make measurable progress through learning, Pearson India launched New Impressions Graded Reader series to help children acquire the English language through the study of literature.

Commenting on the launch, Rajesh Pankajakshan, Director – Product, Pearson India, said, “Reading is one of the fundamental skills that enhances language skills and perception among young learners. Encouraging reading habit among children will help build confidence, imaginative and analytical thinking from a young age. At Pearson, we are committed to offering learning models that suit the needs of today’s learners. With the new version of this series, we aim at making the content more contemporary that will act as a guide and help learners master English language skills to be future-ready.

The New Impressions graded Readers, meant for primary and middle school children, is a rich anthology of literary works in English covering over 100 classical and contemporary writers from around the world. The series has been developed based on the NCF guidelines and the K 12 learner’s contemporary needs. The Digital platform for classroom and the ActiveApp for students’ home learning that accompanies these Readers offer a true blended learning experience to students, allowing them anytime anywhere learning of the English language through multiple modes that Gen Z students enjoy.