According to a Technopack Advisors report of 2008, the Indian book market is valued at around $2.6 billion and less than one percent of India's $2 billion book industry comes from the online segment. Hence, the internet has a good potential for India's book retail industry.
On the releasing day of Dan Brown's novel The Lost Symbol, in September 2009, Flipkart.com, an Indian online book retailer, sold over 2,000 copies. According to Sachin Bansal, Co-Founder and CEO of Flipkart, the company did well because its main focus was to meet consumer expectations.
Flipkart, which was started in 2007 with initial costs of $9,000 and 50,000 titles, made over $4 million in revenue last year. Earlier this year, it raised $8-10 million from New York-based venture capital fund Tiger Global Management.
Flipkart isn't the only player in India's online bookstore arena who is hopeful in this regard. Infibeam, a Gujarat-based online book retailer, has also recorded $20 million revenue target for the year. The list also includes Firstandsecond, Librarywala and Tradusbooks among others who are hopeful of getting a foothold in the market.
Full report here Silicon India
Showing posts with label Infibeam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Infibeam. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Craze for ebooks yet to catch on in India
Globally, on Amazon.com, the sales of ebooks may have outstripped the sales of hardcover books over the past three months. However, this does not appear to be the case in India.
Amazon’s Kindle, for instance, was launched in India in October last year. It was priced at around Rs 18,000. Yet, say analysts and industry sources, Amazon has not managed to sell more than 2,000 units in country.
“In India, I dont see ebooks finding a mass uptake before five years. While enthusiasts are buying ebooks on their devices, it has not yet reached the scale to send publishers running to convert physical copies into digital formats,” says V K Karthika, publisher and chief editor, Harper Collins (India).
“Kindle users are limited to ebooks (books in a digital form that can be read on devices like the Kindle or iPad) and similar multimedia content available from the Amazon store. This not only hinders user uptake but also limits distribution,” concurs Vishal Mehta, CEO and founder of Infibeam.com, which has launched its own version of an ereader at Rs 9,999. Mehta, who claims to have sold “several thousand” Pi ereaders, adds the market in India for such devices is estimated to be around 50,000 units annually.
“That (the rise in numbers) doesn’t have to mean that revenues have increased,” reasons Mehta, who is already seeing ebooks sales contribute up to five per cent of total sales on Infibeam.com. The entertainment retailer has announced that for every 100 hardcover books sold on Amazon.com in the last month, it has sold 180 ebooks for its Kindle ebook reader.
Full report here Business Standard
Amazon’s Kindle, for instance, was launched in India in October last year. It was priced at around Rs 18,000. Yet, say analysts and industry sources, Amazon has not managed to sell more than 2,000 units in country.
“In India, I dont see ebooks finding a mass uptake before five years. While enthusiasts are buying ebooks on their devices, it has not yet reached the scale to send publishers running to convert physical copies into digital formats,” says V K Karthika, publisher and chief editor, Harper Collins (India).
“Kindle users are limited to ebooks (books in a digital form that can be read on devices like the Kindle or iPad) and similar multimedia content available from the Amazon store. This not only hinders user uptake but also limits distribution,” concurs Vishal Mehta, CEO and founder of Infibeam.com, which has launched its own version of an ereader at Rs 9,999. Mehta, who claims to have sold “several thousand” Pi ereaders, adds the market in India for such devices is estimated to be around 50,000 units annually.
“That (the rise in numbers) doesn’t have to mean that revenues have increased,” reasons Mehta, who is already seeing ebooks sales contribute up to five per cent of total sales on Infibeam.com. The entertainment retailer has announced that for every 100 hardcover books sold on Amazon.com in the last month, it has sold 180 ebooks for its Kindle ebook reader.
Full report here Business Standard
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