There used to be a time when one had to go to
a library, which used to be very few in numbers to pick their favourite read
and get it issued for a certain period. But today things have changed,
libraries are just a click away wherever you maybe.
Now, you will find yourself sitting comfortably in your room, browsing titles and ordering books in very few clicks on your computer. And not just that, you get the books delivered at your doorstep and then get it picked up too, once you are done with the book. This is the convenience of new-age online libraries, making it easy people across the age-group to read that they always wanted to without stepping out of their homes, due to one reason or the other.
A number of online libraries have come up in the country making it easier for the book-lovers to pursue their interest and Koramangala is no exception. Having a number of libraries offline, Koramangala also has one of the the oldest online libraries to its credit. Launched in the year 2011 by Vani Mahesh, Easylib has an online as well as offline presence.
Vaani herself an avid reader recalls, "When we started, online library was a novel concept, but today things have changed, you have to have online presence to stay competitive. Internet has become as common as a mobile phone. We have online as well as offline presence but with the increasing internet penetration, offline libraries are facing a decline in their business as well as the readership."
Easylib caters to the people from all age groups, but children constitute a major percentage. "Initially it would be techies who would visit our website, take a membership and then order books, but now children in the age group of 7-12 are among the most active members of our library" Vani adds with a smile.
Easylib has various membership options which helps you register on its website. "Koramangala is our stronghold as I have stayed there for 13 years. Currently, we provide delivery and pickup services in and around Koramangala. We have members who have been with us for long. Many a times it happens that people come with a cartoon full of books to donate them to our library because they don't want to dispose it neither they want it to decay".
Then there are other online libraries too who not only provide you books with a delivery and pickup facility, but also offer you to rent your books. "Rentsher, based out of Bengaluru not only allows its members to with various facilities and offers, but ask them too to get their books rented. Rensher then hands the rent over to the book owners after deducting 10 percent of the amount" says Ketaki Shah Owner of the venture.
Among the libraries which also serve Koramangala people online is Librarywala. Librarywala started operations on August 1st 2007 in Mumbai and then expanded services to Bengaluru.
"The idea seeded when we could not find a decent library around us and also could not afford to buy everything that we wanted to read. The libraries that were present did not have upgraded collection and nor had all the genres covered and buying was not an option, but we got inspired from Netflix and started evaluating the same model for books." said Hiten Turakhia from Librarywala.
Fortunately for us we were very well accepted by book-lovers across the city and also started receiving mails from across India to start services there as well. Over the years we have not only expanded our services in Bangalore, Pune but we also started providing corporate solutions which has now become the backbone of our revenue source.
"From a collection of 8000 books to 82000 books and from 0 to 57,827 registered members, the last five years have been a learning experience. It will definitely be difficult for the offline vendors to provide the same services as we do and not only logistics is one of the factors that will hurt them but they will also have to compete on collection level. As, the area of consumers that they can serve will be limited to their locality where as we provide services across the city there by reaching a bigger market and generating more revenues which in-turn helps us upgrade our collection and provide best in class services," he adds
"We do have a good number of clients from that area, majority of the clients are from the age group 25 to 37 years and are working professionals, in terms of gender most of the readers are females, Turakhia added.
Librarywala has also provides a range of membership options which allow the members to read from 1-12 book in a month, as per the interest and then the some plans are also available on quarterly, half yearly and yearly basis with discounts. On rising competition in the area he says, "To stay competitive in the market we provide our members with the benefits of collection, choice, convenience and cost. We depend on their word of mouth."
Now, you will find yourself sitting comfortably in your room, browsing titles and ordering books in very few clicks on your computer. And not just that, you get the books delivered at your doorstep and then get it picked up too, once you are done with the book. This is the convenience of new-age online libraries, making it easy people across the age-group to read that they always wanted to without stepping out of their homes, due to one reason or the other.
A number of online libraries have come up in the country making it easier for the book-lovers to pursue their interest and Koramangala is no exception. Having a number of libraries offline, Koramangala also has one of the the oldest online libraries to its credit. Launched in the year 2011 by Vani Mahesh, Easylib has an online as well as offline presence.
Vaani herself an avid reader recalls, "When we started, online library was a novel concept, but today things have changed, you have to have online presence to stay competitive. Internet has become as common as a mobile phone. We have online as well as offline presence but with the increasing internet penetration, offline libraries are facing a decline in their business as well as the readership."
Easylib caters to the people from all age groups, but children constitute a major percentage. "Initially it would be techies who would visit our website, take a membership and then order books, but now children in the age group of 7-12 are among the most active members of our library" Vani adds with a smile.
Easylib has various membership options which helps you register on its website. "Koramangala is our stronghold as I have stayed there for 13 years. Currently, we provide delivery and pickup services in and around Koramangala. We have members who have been with us for long. Many a times it happens that people come with a cartoon full of books to donate them to our library because they don't want to dispose it neither they want it to decay".
Then there are other online libraries too who not only provide you books with a delivery and pickup facility, but also offer you to rent your books. "Rentsher, based out of Bengaluru not only allows its members to with various facilities and offers, but ask them too to get their books rented. Rensher then hands the rent over to the book owners after deducting 10 percent of the amount" says Ketaki Shah Owner of the venture.
Among the libraries which also serve Koramangala people online is Librarywala. Librarywala started operations on August 1st 2007 in Mumbai and then expanded services to Bengaluru.
"The idea seeded when we could not find a decent library around us and also could not afford to buy everything that we wanted to read. The libraries that were present did not have upgraded collection and nor had all the genres covered and buying was not an option, but we got inspired from Netflix and started evaluating the same model for books." said Hiten Turakhia from Librarywala.
Fortunately for us we were very well accepted by book-lovers across the city and also started receiving mails from across India to start services there as well. Over the years we have not only expanded our services in Bangalore, Pune but we also started providing corporate solutions which has now become the backbone of our revenue source.
"From a collection of 8000 books to 82000 books and from 0 to 57,827 registered members, the last five years have been a learning experience. It will definitely be difficult for the offline vendors to provide the same services as we do and not only logistics is one of the factors that will hurt them but they will also have to compete on collection level. As, the area of consumers that they can serve will be limited to their locality where as we provide services across the city there by reaching a bigger market and generating more revenues which in-turn helps us upgrade our collection and provide best in class services," he adds
"We do have a good number of clients from that area, majority of the clients are from the age group 25 to 37 years and are working professionals, in terms of gender most of the readers are females, Turakhia added.
Librarywala has also provides a range of membership options which allow the members to read from 1-12 book in a month, as per the interest and then the some plans are also available on quarterly, half yearly and yearly basis with discounts. On rising competition in the area he says, "To stay competitive in the market we provide our members with the benefits of collection, choice, convenience and cost. We depend on their word of mouth."
Source
| Economic Times | 22 June 2015
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