A Bangalore-based online start-up that was launched to sell books has half of its customers, all students of the city, ordering for textbooks through the company's Facebook page. Of the 50 students who have ordered for books, 40 have ordered for textbooks through Facebook, where the page has 290 "Likes".
“Students order via Facebook, which is a rallying point for them. Besides, it simplifies ordering books and makes it very social,” says Abhishek Tripathi, a management student and the founder of “Ring-a-book.” They have asked for books on engineering subjects, science subjects required for the M. Sc. course and biotechnology. Other than taking orders through the social media site, the start-up offers deals on books at midnight on Facebook. Books can be sent to students in college, he says. The site, which is a few weeks old, has got 100 orders (including those who have ordered once) till now. Those who have placed orders include 30 to 40 regular customers.
More than 50 buyers have called to place orders for books. Based on the idea that getting a specific book is difficult, the site aims at allowing customers to order books easily and while on the move, according to Mr. Mr. Tripathi.
Mr. Tripathi says the site aims at allowing buyers to search for, order and get a book at the home, in a single step. In urban areas, hunting for books is cumbersome. Searching, travelling and waiting in crowded billing counters of bookstores to buy books can be inconvenient.
Meghana, a college student in Bangalore, says she has not bought textbooks online but says she will not mind trying the site through Facebook if she gets the right books, in time. “If they are sending it to college, it's not a bad idea,” she says.
Harinath Pudipeddi, a software developer in Bangalore, says he stopped buying books in stores a long time ago. He is happy with buying books on the Flipkart site.