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| Synopsis
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| This
is the story of a legendry Publishing
company operating from Kerala.
Company which had a fifty-year-old
tradition in publishing industry,
found themselves in a difficult
situation, with the mushrooming
giant online bookstores. They
approached Aufait with the intention
of getting a solution for their
concern
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| TBS
is a leading book publishing
and Distribution Company operating
from Kerala in Southern India.
The bookshop of TBS is virtually
a literary minefield, where
a customer can track the books
he seeks. Now, with over 50
years of service, TBS Publishers
stand tall amidst the giant
book publishers and distributors
from the subcontinent.
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| TBS
had a very humble beginning
in the early 1950’s. Mr.
N.E. Balakrishna Marar, the
founding father of the organization
used to distribute books and
periodicals, on cycle to the
readers and hence the name Touring
Book Stall (TBS). This innovative
customer friendly service was
introduced at Calicut when such
things were actually unheard
of. This approach soon gained
tremendous appreciation and
it helped the organization to
establish a strong base in the
field.
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Headquartered
at the 5-story building at G.H
Road, Calicut in northern Kerala
and with branches at principal
places like Trichur, Trivandrum
and Kottayam in own premises
and a network of agents, the
marketing channels of TBS covers
practically the entire Kerala.
POORNA Publications was established
as its sister concern. Customers
from other states and overseas
also turn to TBS and Poorna
to meet their needs.
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| Business
Challenge |
| With
the advent of the Internet and
e transaction facilities, global
competition emerged drastically
in the field of book publishing.
Publisher giants from across
the globe started publishing
and distributing books through
the net. At this juncture, Publishers
from the third world found themselves
in an imbroglio. Emergence of
gargantuan book marketing portals
carried away a lion’s
share of their income.
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| Customers
also started demanding for more
sophisticated marketing facilities.
Book hunters of the 21st century
wants to browse the huge repository
of bibliographic information
and select their favorites by
sitting comfortably at their
residence or office.
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| But
the amazing thing about Indian
publishers is that very few
of them have an active presence
on the web. It is in these circumstances,
a book lover rightly pointed
out “some of the bigger
publishers do have their own
web sites, but for most of the
others, you can search till
you're blue in the face, and
you'll only end up burning out
your search engines.”
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Being a leading supplier of
books in Kerala, TBS needed
to maintain a huge repository
of bibliographic information
regarding magazines, Journals,
and books on every topic for
everyone from students to professional
to corporate /industrial establishments
.In addition to the primary
role of books supply, TBS is
also a one stop shop for all
types of lab equipments, chemicals
for colleges, for industries,
computer peripherals, stationery,
sports goods and gift items.
Here also they need to maintain
scores of data. Moreover they
have to present this information
before their customers in a
way that it is easily accessible
for them.
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| Aufait’s
Solution |
| Aufait
smelled a great opportunity
for TBS. Aufait found that global
arena with minimal competition
from their Indian counterparts
is left wide open right in front
of TBS. Indians and especially
Malayalees are spread across
the globe and a huge majority
of them are voracious readers
and avid lovers of books.
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Aufait
designed a new Online Book Store
after analyzing the business
requirements of the client.
The multi pronged strategy includes
menu, item, homepage and user
administration facilities.
The new system will help upload
more information and eliminate
manual data entry. It also allows
improved search results &
display .It could enhance efficiency,
increase accuracy of data and
make ensure easy accessibility
for customers from round the
globe. It will also reduce the
delays in updating catalogued
information.
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