When your all time favorite local book store closes down, it seems an end of an era. But where an era ends, another is born. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise not only for the readers, but also for online retailers.

Retailers like NOQ recently provided hungry readers with the answers. NOQ is similar to retail giants like Amazon.

Run by Times Publishing, NOQ Store hopes to establish itself as niche in online book store. It aims to carve a name for itself apart from well established Goliaths in online book trade.

When Times Publishing, who owns book stores through Asia shifted to online selling of books, it shows a sign of changing trends in the industry. The reasons and benefits to be reaped are myriad. But can they cash in and take full advantage of it.

Convenience and ease of shopping is the first thing online shopping offers to its customers, besides the price it offers. It’s easier to hunt for a book through the search bar than the physical walk to the store. Also, once the shopping is done, it’s back to work. So here valuable time is saved too.

To maximize savings, online merchants tend to ship most of their orders from one central location. This means retailers can stock larger quantities of titles in comparison to physical bookstores.

Also, the disadvantage of your local bookstore is that sometimes you will not get the title you’re searching for. So then, you need to place an order and wait for the book to arrive or continue the hunt at another store.

When it comes to shopping, price turns out to be the most important factor. Since online book stores don’t have same overheads as a physical store, the prices offered by online stores are much more competitive. This is one of the reason people prefer to buy online.

This has also been my personal experience of shopping with Open trolley.

But this doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world for physical book stores. There are still some areas where physical book stores hold some sway over online book stores. In physical shopping, the reader can actually feel the book that come in different covers, and know what he/she will get when the bill is paid.

In terms of shopping experience physical book stores still beat online shops. This has been my experience when I bought my latest book from Amazon.

Will this still last? Time itself will testify. But for the moment, sun is still shining for the physical book store.