‘Bookchor’ steals limelight on Day 2 of book fair
On the second day of the national book fair going on at the Moti Mahal lawn here, ‘Bookchor literary solutions’ was the centre of attraction. And it wasn’t just the curiosity creating name of the stall that pulled crowds to it, but also its rare collection of second-hand books.
Interestingly, one of these books that was in great demand among buyers was ‘The Book Thief’ -- a 2005 historical novel by Australian author Markus Zusak.
“We have a huge collection, bigger than what you may see in any mega bookstore across the country,” said Bhawesh Sharma, one of the foundermembers of Bookchor literary solutions private limited that runs the website www.bookchor.com -- a rage among secondhand books buyers.
Bhawesh co-founded the site with Prateek Maheshwari, Vidyut Sharma and Alok Sharma -all engineering students from Delhi. In 2015, the three -- then pursuing BTech -- decided to become entrepreneurs after completing the course.
“One day, we were all sitting in the college canteen, talking about scarcity of old books. There are, of course, places like Delhi’s Daryaganj, Kolkata’s College street, Bengaluru’s Avenue road and Mumbai’s Fort area, but still hunting for and buying specific books was still not a convenient option -- that too in this era of online shopping! Suddenly, we thought -- why not launch an exclusive e-commerce site for second-hand books? The idea clicked with all of us,” recollected Bhawesh. In October 2015, they launched the website.
But why the name ‘Bookchor’ (book thief)? “It’s catchy. And we also procure books from bibliophiles abroad to meet the domestic demand,” said Bhawesh.
The website also has mobile phone applications for android and iOS users. “Our mobile phone apps have added to our reach. The app offers customers the option to place orders from the comfort of their houses or where ever they are,” he said, adding, “The users are also allowed to sell directly to potential buyers.”
Like any other start-up, their venture too faced initial investment problems. Fortunately for the foursome, Bhawesh and Vidyut’s parents played saviours and invested a seed capital of Rs 34 lakh. “Yes, we had teething troubles. Also, the second-hand book market is a completely unorganised sector. But we started getting it right soon,” said Bhawesh.
At present, Bookchor has a customer base of over 53,000 users in 27 states. The firm employs 12 people who operate from Delhi. There’s a 6,300 sq ft warehouse too, in Kundli near Delhi-Haryana border.
Speaking on expansion plans, Bhawesh said, “Our key focus area is fiction and non-fiction, but in the next couple of months, Bookchor will also include textbooks and regional language books to cater to a larger audience.”