With increasing awareness, and Internet penetration in India, e-commerce is blooming. Currently, Amazon India has launched bookstores in Hindi, Kannada and Tamil – three regional languages in India.
The Hindi bookstore was launched in April 2014 with over 23,000 titles. It offers a vast selection of genres ranging from literature, fiction, biographies, children’s books, and classic novels by famous authors. “Additionally, there is a vast collection of reference books and textbooks to help students and job aspirants prepare for interviews and tests. Customers can also enjoy reading Hindi translation of more than 800 bestselling English books,” says Noor Patel, director (Category Management) at Amazon India.
In July 2014, Amazon launched the Tamil (the language mainly spoken in the south-eastern state of Tamil Nadu) bookstore with a selection of over 8000 titles making it the largest Tamil book store in India.
And in the month of October of the same year, titles in Kannada (the language mainly spoken in the southern state of Karnataka) were made available, with more than 7300 books, 4700 movies, and 2500 music albums. The company recorded a 30 per cent growth in the demand for Kannada books in three months, Patel observed.
Patel added that regional books used to face significant challenges in reaching its customers due to the highly fragmented publishing industry and its ability to reach all points of sales even within the states where they are published, reports SiliconIndia News.
“But e-commerce has played a key role in bridging this gap, taking books to their readers irrespective of their location and language. Due to the wide range of languages in India and the high levels of inter-state mobility, several readers were unable to buy books published in their mother tongue or language of their choice. Identifying this need, we launched the regional bookstores,” explained Patel.
