City Gets Another Spot For Bookworms

City Gets Another Spot For Bookworms
Swati Anand | TNN

Bangalore: It’s 21,000 sq ft of all things fun — books, movies, music, toys, perfumes and gifting articles. Reliance TimeOut is the latest player in this market that started as book shops but has gone well beyond.
In fact, books form only 40% of the offering at this store, much like the Tata’s Landmark store, where books form 40%-50% of the merchandise. “We’re bringing a one-stop destination with something for all interests and the entire family which requires us to offer more than books,” said Bijou Kurien, president (lifestyle), Reliance Retail, at the launch on Monday.
Organised retailers are working out their own unique formula, sometimes varying even in micro-markets. So cosmetics, watches and even light jewellery find shelf space depending on the store’s theme — all in an attempt to offer much more than your musty neighbourhood bookstore. While K Raheja group’s Crossword aspires to be seen as a format that ‘informs, enlightens and entertains’ — permits movies and toys, but not cosmetics and watches —Odyssey and Landmark offer high-end perfumes and even an odd home furnishing item. “By going beyond books, we offer multiple occasions for all age groups to walk into our stores. Gifting forms a very significant market,” says K Dasaratharaman, president (speciality retail), RPG, which opened Books and Beyond in Gurgaon early this year.
While it’s difficult for retailers to chart the percentage of purchase for gifting, industry experts estimate it at around 35%- 40%, particularly in the non-books category. Given the fragmented nature of this market, it’s tough to even pin a name to it, let alone hazard a market size. However, books today are a Rs 11,500 crore market — with the organized market accounting for Rs 1,250 crore — music is pegged at Rs 450 crore and movies Rs 500 crore. The booksmusic-movies market is growing annually at 15%-20%, with the organized market growing at 35%. Music and movies form a sizable share in such stores — most have music bars or sound domes — and TimeOut boasts of a karaoke corner. Stationery, for office, home or art too have a significant draw. But the core of these stores is still books. “It’s a myth that people don’t read. Parents today are more particular in this era of digital media that their children read,” says Aniyan Nair, head (operations and marketing), Crossword. However, there’s openness to supplement reading with educational, interactive CD-Roms, games and toys.
All retailers have strong customer relationship programmes to help keep their ears to the ground for changing trends. “A book lover isn’t bowled by discounts or deals. What matters to him is whether you have that book he’s looking for,” says Himanshu Chakrawarti, COO of Landmark. “So we make it a point to go beyond bestsellers and have an entire back list of any genre or interest, even though they may not fly off the shelves.”
Retailers are noticing a greater affinity towards specialised interests in areas like travel, management, food and self-help and in fiction, Indian authors have a strong market. TimeOut also plans to focus on regional literature and authors as well as academic books — usually considered a mainstay of local markets like Avenue Road in Bangalore or College Street in Kolkata. Stores emphasise greatly on ambience. Crossword and Landmark routinely hold book readings and releases to boost their eclectic image. There are couches for customers to settle into a book for as long as they want — with no pressure to buy the book they mull over. And for the hunger pangs, there’s the corner cafe with steaming cappuccino and croissants.