KOLKATA: The publishers in College Street and nearby areas claim that ever since COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the sales of books online continues to flourish despite people having the option to buy the books from the stores.
Publishers and bookstore owners of ‘Boipara’, during the pandemic, were largely worried about the meagre sale of books as the outlets were forced to remain shut during the lockdown period. They were worried to even publish a new title considering the market having shrunk during the same period.
Quite a few publishers had gone online in 2019 to facilitate selling of books to buyers living in other states or even abroad. But even they could hardly see the demand rising online until the pandemic broke out. All of a sudden, not just story book sellers but also academic and competitive examination book sellers were forced to take their businesses online as the outlet footfall dropped.
One of the publishing houses had to take their services online during the COVID-19 period.
“Initially the orders online were very less. Steadily the online sale increased and it continues to do well. However, the postal couriers have declined,” Sudhangshu Dey said.
After the lockdown was lifted and the crowd started coming back to College Street, the publishers believed that sales from stores may go up gradually. But for most of them, online platforms grew stronger sale medium than the stores.
“We went online through third party sellers in 2019. The sales at the time were not so great and readers still preferred coming to the store, checking the quality while buying books. During the COVID-19 period, a month or two later, the online sales picked up. We started pushing more orders in the next few months. Right now, the percentage of sales online and offline stands at 60 per cent and 40 per cent respectively,” said a representative Dipankar Das of another publishing house.
Gourav Adhikary of another publishing house said that their target online buyers are in the age group 30 to 60 years. “There has definitely been a change in trend. The
buyers, especially of Bengali books, would previously make sure to visit the store,” he said.