Impact on Book Business amid surge of Online Marketplace
We have a long tradition of a thriving literary scene in Nepal that encourages the book industry. Our reading culture boasts highly acclaimed poets and writers like Laxmi Prasad Devkota and Parijat. In the recent decades, Nepal is gaining fame in South Asia and beyond for its flourishing book industry. In addition, Tourism brought the mushrooming of bookstores in Kathmandu and Pokhara along with other major cities.
But, the rise of digital markets like Daraz Nepal, Thuprai, SastoNepal and many others has proved disastrous for the physical book stores in the nation. Aftermath of Covid has a bad effect on the sellers’ and readers’ buying capacity. Social media and the online market have taken over not only essential necessity but even the sales of books. With the popularity of Amazon worldwide, the Nepali online market is following the same appeal to younger generations.
“Because of busy life and increased workload … consumers are looking for quick purchases …they don’t have time to physically visit the store” quotes Puspa Bhusal from Thuprai.com. She points out that people’s trust in online products also play a crucial part in their business. For that, Thuprai.com collaborates with different college events and podcasts to gain trust. When it comes to online advantages over book stores, she shares that delivery of books into their door steps makes consumers come back for more.
Online sellers have made life easier. But, it has hugely affected physical booksellers. It has slowed down their sales of the stores. “The prices differ from our store to online sellers, that’s why I don’t trust online sellers”, says the owner of the Mandala Book Point, Jamal. He shares “Online sellers have made a division between online readers and traditional readers.”
“Students do come for their academic purpose but not many buy books that frequently”, he continued by saying with concern. When asked if writers or poets visit the shop, he said that recently the Poet Abhi Narayan Subedi came.
When Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko arrived to visit Nepal for 6 hours, she managed to visit the Mandala Book Point to buy some books. ‘She bought a variety of books from general studies, socio-political and Nepalese culture and festivals. She was interested in children’s pictures about the Nepalese festivals which were for her kids,’ says the owner of Mandala. He shares that she brought a particular book called ‘the public life of women: A feminist memory project’ to understand more about the societal structure of Nepal.
Likewise, Mrs. Radha Sharma Rai, the manager of Ekta Book Distributors, Thapathali shares “Because of the piracy and price differences, it is not only hurting our honest business but also to the authors and the royalty that they get”. When asked if Ekta is associated with Daraz she made it clear that Ekta has its own online website but not in Daraz or any other third party.
Not only online sellers but free PDF and other ebooks have made book stores’ sales drop. According to the Statista, Ebooks markets are expected to produce a revenue of US$ 3.67m in 2024 . It is expected to grow at an annual rate of 7.6% by 2027 where annual revenue should reach up to US $ 4.64m by 2027 in market value. Mrs.Radha Sharma Rai, EKTA book, Thapathali also says that free PDF and online academic paper of books that they sell in free and because of this, students are not buying as many books as they used to. She said that most of them are free PDFs of essential papers for colleges and research. It has made it more difficult for us to sell the original paper as she continued.
“Pirated books are making our sales difficult,” says Kahani Tiwari, Piligims Book House, Thamel. She continued by saying that the online sellers don’t have any quality control whatsoever. It is also the fact that the students of today’s generation also contributed to online reading like Amazon’s Audiobook or buying books from Daraz. They believe that ordering online doesn’t get the same experience as coming to the store personally, going through self to self and examining the quality of the print.
However, some book stores associate them with online sellers in hope of increasing their sales. With that comes some disadvantages like the quality of the book itself. According to the owner of the Mandala Book Store, he says that the readers come to them carrying complaints about their online order not being standard when some pages of the book are missing. Once they even said that they got the wrong order. With the rise of smart phones and social media, it seems the bookstores are hanging on the thread for surviving this cutthroat market. They fear if this keeps going on, then it will be difficult for the book store owners to sustain.
The prices of essential necessities have become diversely higher than before. Readers are left with no choice but to buy the cheaper or pirated version of the book that they get on their hands. Most of the youths who are more interested in books go aboard, making a huge impact on the sales. “There are less educated youths in the country due to the trend of studying abroad. This make our sales in Nepal dry like the season we have. ” says the owner of Mandala Book Store, Jamal
This digital shift into eBooks might have improved and promoted Nepalese culture worldwide. But it has also made a negative impact on the market and authors. The authors’ works are illegally translated and sold in the market. “The writers’ names have also been tarnished with this” Mrs. Radha Sharma Rai speaks.
Whether there are pros or cons to digital sellers, readers play a huge role in making or breaking the business in any book market. It is the future generation’s duty to keep bookstores alive and thriving.