Why Do People Buy Books Online?

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Buying books online is the trend these days as it is convenient to do so and most online bookstores offer books at cheaper price than regular, physical bookstores. Some of the reasons books are cheaper online are because online stores do not need to rent a large area to display their books. Their books are stored in a warehouse whose rent is much cheaper than a prime shopping space in malls. In addition other costs such as the need to hire cashiers, security guards and costs of damaged books due to browsing are not present. Hence, which such cost savings, books can be sold more cheaply online. Generally customers can expect 20-30% discount from normal bookstores' prices.

Convenience is also one aspect of online book shopping. When you are looking foor a particular book, you can simply enter the book title in the searchbox and if the book is available online, it will be displayed on your monitor within seconds. Prices, availability and book reviews are also displayed. This is unlike going to normal bookstores where you need to go to a certain book section and tilt your head 90 degrees trying to read the titles on the book spines. Yes, of course you can ask the staff but it will still take seconds than what could be done online. In addition, going to bookstores also require transportation cost and your time. While online bookstores charge you for shipping fee, most waive these charges if you purchase a minimum number of books or if you hit certain book purchase value.

With the improvement in technology, purchasing books online is also becoming more secure. You need to check if your bookstore has SSL certificate issued by reputable digital certificate companies such as Verisign or GeoTrust. If the website has SSL, you can be sure that your account information such as password, email address and home address are safe from hacker attack. Credit card payment processor of the online bookstore must also be reliable. Choose websites that have PayPal payment processor as PayPal is the world's leading internet payment processor companies with millions of trusted websites worldwide using it. You can be sure that your book-buying experience is a safe one with PayPal. Alternatively, some online bookstores also offer non-card payment options such as bank transfer or cheque payment. Use this option if you are not convinced of entering you card details online.

In addition, book selection online is normally better than your local bookstores because some online bookstores can forward your book order directly to many suppliers. Once they received the books from the suppliers, they ship the books to you. This way, online bookstores reduces the need for inventory and at the same time, able to source so many book titles for you.

Shopping for books is now widely accepted worldwide. However, you must ensure that the bookstore is credible and reliable so that you can be sure that your books does arrive and do so on time.

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