New Online Bookstore

[earlofwindermere]

My trusty CM Mail arrived today with a large advert for a new online bookstore. It's called Megabooks Thailand and the prices online seem quite a lot cheaper than ordering from Amazon (selection is small though). Since their ad is VERY similar, I'm curious to know if Megabooks is associated with Gecko books? I remember reading about Gecko doing some expansion... is this part of it?

[Ulysses G.]

No. Gecko Books stopped advertising with the Chiang Mai Mail several weeks ago.

Megabooks only sells new books - no used ones - and is owned by the farang who brought Bookazine to Thailand. Bookazine was recently sold to Asia Books and this is his latest project. They mostly sell books over the internet which are shipped to customers by mail.

I'm sure that Asia Books won't be pleased.

[Rasseru]

I'm sure that Asia Books won't be pleased.

My guess is they must not care that much, or they would have insisted on a non-compete clause in the sale contract.

[Ulysses G.]

Asia Books almost had a monopoly on bookstores in Thailand until Bookazine came along and, in a very short time, came close to taking away half their business.

If they don't care, they certainly should!

[infernalman7]

Have anyone tried Kinokuniya?

[Lordfoul]

Competition is always a good thing .. for selection though I am not sure you can beat Kinokuniya http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/indexohb.cgi?AREA=07 without ordering from outside of the country.

My trusty CM Mail arrived today with a large advert for a new online bookstore. It's called Megabooks Thailand and the prices online seem quite a lot cheaper than ordering from Amazon (selection is small though). Since their ad is VERY similar, I'm curious to know if Megabooks is associated with Gecko books? I remember reading about Gecko doing some expansion... is this part of it?

[infernalman7]

By the way, what's the website of Megabooks?

[sceadugenga]

Go to the CityLife website.

[Sao Jiang Mai]

www.megabooksthailand.com - apparently now that Asia Books and Bookazine joined forces they think they have the Thailand monopoly so will increase cost of books outside Bangkok by 10%. That is why Megabooks has sweeeetly snuck in online and will undercut them by quite a margin I would guess. Though my loyalties of course lie with you, UG, my dear client...OK that is your suckup quota for 2008!

[steve__C]

hmm

megabooks seem to be selling:

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\megabooksthailand.com\httpdocs\includes\connection.php on line 7

rather than any books just now

[Ulysses G.]

Have anyone tried Kinokuniya?

I LOVE Kinokuniya in Bangkok.

I actually prefer it to the bigger chains like Barnes & Nobles in Singapore and elsewhere. Kinokuniya do a great job of picking the best books, rather than just loading the shelves with anything to take up space like the larger ones do. You don't have to sift through a load of boring crap to find the better titles, because that is all they carry. Don't get me wrong, Kinokuniya stores are huge, but manageable. The big chain stores are gigantic, but loaded with junk books to take up space.

We are very lucky to have Kinokuniya in Thailand!

Edited January 29, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[Lordfoul]

Have you Been to the Main Branch of Kinokuniya in Singapore? Makes Borders and Barnes and Nobels seem like quaint little mom and pop shops.

Have anyone tried Kinokuniya?

I LOVE Kinokuniya in Bangkok.

I actually prefer it to the bigger chains like Barnes & Nobles in Singapore and elsewhere. Kinokuniya do a great job of picking the best books, rather than just loading the shelves with anything to take up space like the larger ones do. You don't have to sift through a load of boring crap to find the better titles, because that is all they carry. Don't get me wrong, Kinokuniya stores are huge, but manageable. The big chain stores are gigantic, but loaded with junk books to take up space.

We are very lucky to have Kinokuniya in Thailand!

[Ulysses G.]

I don't think it was there the last time I visited Singapore. Something to look forward to!

One thing that dissapointed me in Singapore was how lousy the music/CD shops were - even though they are huge.

I really miss Tower records in Singapore and Bangkok with everything you could think of!

[sceadugenga]

I'm actually quite impressed, the postage for delivery per book seems to be 50 baht, and the selection and price reasonable.

I saw two Michael Connelly books I hadn't read for B195 each. Having them arrive on my somewhat isolated doorstep for less than B500 total is quite an attractive idea.

BUT, and a big but.... will my over-protective Australian bank allow my credit card to make the payment?

[Ulysses G.]

I wonder how they can make any profit on the 195 baht bargain books?

I am guessing that they don't, but they hope that people will also order more expensive ones with them. They also must make some profit off the shipping charges as I send a small box of maybe 20 books for 100 baht anywhere in Thailand. It will be interesting to see if they succeed, or not.

[Rasseru]

Have anyone tried Kinokuniya?

I LOVE Kinokuniya in Bangkok.

. . . . . Kinokuniya do a great job of picking the best books, rather than just loading the shelves with anything to take up space like the larger ones do. You don't have to sift through a load of boring crap to find the better titles, because that is all they carry. . . . .

We are very lucky to have Kinokuniya in Thailand!

Not bad for Japanese books either.

[THAILIBAN]

Have anyone tried Kinokuniya?

I LOVE Kinokuniya in Bangkok.

I actually prefer it to the bigger chains like Barnes & Nobles in Singapore and elsewhere. Kinokuniya do a great job of picking the best books, rather than just loading the shelves with anything to take up space like the larger ones do. You don't have to sift through a load of boring crap to find the better titles, because that is all they carry. Don't get me wrong, Kinokuniya stores are huge, but manageable. The big chain stores are gigantic, but loaded with junk books to take up space.

We are very lucky to have Kinokuniya in Thailand!

if Kinokunya is still not big enough for some, they may try BORDERS at Kuala Lumpur's "Times Square" Monster-Shopping Mall. its the biggest BORDERS store in the world....

Edited January 31, 2008 by THAILIBAN

[sbk]

Kinokuniya doesn't ship as far as I can tell. The one in Siam Paragon had an excellent selection of books in thai (my husband loves to read) but their online store seems lacking and I didnt' see a shipping option.

[Lordfoul]

Sure they do http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/ohb/07/files/riyou.htm .. and shipping is free for orders over 3,000 baht and the online store is attached to the same database as the in store computers so they should have every book from every location in there, although sometimes I have better luck searching by author instead of by title.

Kinokuniya doesn't ship as far as I can tell. The one in Siam Paragon had an excellent selection of books in thai (my husband loves to read) but their online store seems lacking and I didnt' see a shipping option.

Edited February 14, 2008 by Lordfoul

[sbk]

Thanks for that, I tried going through their store site, didn't see any shipping option. I'll be sure to check it out