Crossword, a leading bookstores chain plans to explore new avenues of selling books and other merchandise through on-line portals and also offer dial-a-book service through toll free telephone lines, fax-a-book and e-mail a book.
The company is also in the process of launching a range of stationery, including folders, writing pads and pens under 'Crossword' brand name. The launch of stationery products is scheduled in the first week of December.
The National Institute of Design & Development, Ahmedabad has been assigned the work of designing Crossword's merchandise.
"We are in talks with a couple of website portals to sell our products on-line and we expect to finalise the deal with one or more portals soon," R Sriram, chief executive officer and managing director of Crossword said.
Sriram was in the city to open its "Crossword Corner" a small-size store. The Crossword Corners have around 300 to 500 square feet area and are located in high traffic points like entertainment complexes, shopping malls and departmental stores amongst other areas.
"We may come out with smaller models like Crossword Corner so that books become more accessible and visible to potential buyers," Sriram said.
The company plans to open 30 new Crossword Corners in cities wherever the company has existing presence in the current year. Besides, it also plans to open 20 new large Crossword stores.
Launched in 1992, Crossword has 2 stores in Mumbai, and one each in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Vadodara, Chennai, Hyderabad and Goa.
One of the highlights of Crossword Corners is that it will be selling 50 bestsellers.
INDIAN AUTHORED BOOKS OUTSELL FOREIGN BOOK SALES IN INDIA: Indian authored books are witnessing booming sales and outselling foreign books following increased readership.
According to Sriram, even though 70 per cent of the English titles available in India are foreign, the Indian authored books have already started outsmarting the foreign ones covering both fiction and non-fiction. "With several journalists turning authors Indian books in recent times have shown excellent sales and now outsell and compete with foreign books," Sriram pointed out.
The Indian book market size is estimated at Rs 3,000 crore per annum, including Rs 800 crore sales coming from English books.
