Opportunities aplenty for bookstore business in Tier II/III cities

Opportunities aplenty for bookstore business in Tier II/III cities

The inception of eCommerce in India happened with books, and since then, the industry has grown many folds. Crossword Bookstores in India is the only player holding the beacon up and high. Now they are eyeing to root their presence deeper with Tier II and III markets.

At the Indian Retail and eRetail Congress and Awards 2015, Kinjal Shah, CEO, Crossword Bookstores, caught up with Retailer Media and shared his views on the ups and downs of the market. He also explained his vision towards the future of book store formats businesses in India.

 

How has the retail industry behaved in terms of growth and opportunities in India?

I would say that the opportunity is massive and it's growing at a very fast pace. There are a lot of challenges in terms of cost, the way it's going up or the cyclical nature of the industry. Some has been really good and some quarters has been really low, having said that the penetration in Tier II and III cities is still challenging.  And that is what we at Crossword Bookstores are into. Lots of opportunities are there. In fact, so many cities and states don't even have a good book store and we are looking forward to grow in those areas.

 

What differences you see in the customer's behaviour in Tier II and III cities to that of metropolitan cities?

There is a huge difference from our category prospective. A consumer in a metropolitan city is used to book store format and the level of readership is very different. They are tuned towards literary, towards high management. But when we go to Tier II and III, consumers have not been able to visit a good book store, have not seen the entire range. 

 

Where do you see the future of retail industry 3-5 years down the line?

 The retail industry is going to grow at 8-10% year on year and this is very clear. It will have its own challenges being in terms of the disruption happening in the online space, the technology space, or from the cost equation space. But the opportunity exists and it's for each retailer to adapt to the needs of the consumer because the consumer ultimately is shopping. The purchasing powers are growing, the disposable income is growing.

 

Talk to us about the business model and the journey till date?

We currently have 97 stores across 33 cities. We are a 21-year-old organisation and we are bookstores and that is what we want to call ourselves, bookstores, but yes, we also sell toys, stationeries, music, movies and hardware accessories. Typically to ensure that the consumers get the entire bandwidth of what our vision that is to build community centres within the gamut of educate, entertain and enlighten.

 

Are you planning to expand to some other categories?

If you look at it for us, the music and movie category is a challenge, be it downloading or piracy. We have interned gifting as a new category and have strengthened our existing categories such as toys and stationery because we see opportunity for growth. So, we will focus on our core categories and will expand to new categories which is gifting where we see connect for our consumers. 

 Talking about expansion, we have opened 12 stores this year and there are another 10 stores which are signed up and will come up in the next 6 months. This will strengthen our position in metros and Tier II and III and we also looking at 10 new stores every year.

 

How has the eCommerce 2015 been for Crosswords Bookstores?

I think there has been a significant disruption. Around 5 years back, we never thought of what has happened today. It was predicted to be a bubble and consumers are not going to shop online. With technology disruption, the best is to embrace it rather than hiding behind it. It is going to be bigger moving ahead.

In our industry, special in books where eCommerce started with and then went into other categories, we got the taste of it first and we tuned our business model as per the requirements of the consumer.

 

What is your take on the omni-channel retailing?

I think that's the way to go. According to me an omni-channel is a connection with consumer through and through all channels be it a mobile, an eCommerce site, a phone delivery or a store. Each retailer has to move towards omni-channel as it's an integral part of a retailer's vision now. The way to do it is to ensure that the customer gets a seamless experience through and through.

 

Put some light of the funding front of Crossword Bookstores?

We are completely funded internally. We are a 100% substitute of Shoppers Stop and that's the way we go.

 

What is your take on the mobile-only trend which is picking pace in the market?

I think it is because for some business data suggests that. If you look at the entire retail atmosphere, mobile is playing a significant role because of the penetration of mobiles in the country. Internet penetration and the speed are also helping it. Retailers see a significant amount of traffic through mobile. The challenge that each one of us has today is around increasing the conversion through the mobile phones. Looking at the conversion happening on a website that is double of the mobile, but yes, the graphs will change and mobiles are going to be the next big thing in retail.