It's a good feeling to flip the crisp pages of new books and take in the whiff of fresh ink while strolling through various sections in bookstores. But, there seems to be a deviation in the book-shopping trend for most. An online interface which is quick and user-friendly is where lot of students are shopping for books.
Sites like ‘Flipkart.com', ‘Crossword.in', ‘nbcindia.com', ‘ebay.in/books' and ‘Indiaplaza.com' are some of the leading ‘online retailers' in books.
Colleges and universities require the purchase of many academic books. “Most textbooks are expensive or out of stock and those available are only found in the reference sections of libraries,” says Pooja Jain, a final year student from St. Francis College. Other than competitive prices, online retailers provide fast and free delivery of books all over India.
Save time
Online bookstores save time and effort in finding the required texts. And as far as security of payments are concerned, sites like flipkart.com have a separate page which addresses issues concerned with online payments, explains Shalini Chauhan, a fresher at HSBC.
Colleges which have the semester systems prescribe academic books required only for a semester and most often students rent books instead of purchasing them explains Krishnamurthy, who runs a pre-used bookshop at Koti. “Pre-used books are sometimes in tatters and are difficult to read because of the hard binding,says Sarwath Fatima, a student from Shadan College, Khairatabad. Online bookstores seem to come up with a solution to predicaments like these as well. Sites like ‘bookmeabook.com', ‘friendsofbooks.com', and ‘textbuk.in', rent books online for a subscription.
Neeta Chandra, pursuing her masters in HCU says, “many students come from far off places to study here. One has to manage with tuition fees, living costs and the biggest concern for the first month of the academic year is textbooks.” “For students like us, online bookstores and rentals are more convenient than the local bookstores,” she adds.
“Most online bookstores and rentals provide textbooks, reference and tutorials, which are the basic requirements for every student's learning needs. One can research books by considering comments, reviews and feedbacks by other readers before making a purchase,” concludes Kanaka Bhagya Veni, an English lecturer from St. Francis College, Begumpet.
