Indie Bookstores Take on Amazon with One Hour Service

Forget Pokemon Go, NearSt tracks books!

NearSt, a new online platform in London is giving Amazon a run for its money with a new app offering books within the hour. Forty London bookshops have signed up at NearSt’s newly launched platform, which allows customers in London to enter their postcode, and the name of the book they are looking for, and have it delivered within the hour!

If the appeal of Amazon and Kindle is that books are delivered, and sometimes virtually instantly then this new service might just give Amazon a run for its money, and that’s absolutely the intention, according to NearSt co-founder Nick Brackenbury.

Delivery is handled by a range of scooter and bike services across London, or if the customer prefers they can reserve the book and visit the shop to pick it up. The platform isn’t paid for by the consumer, as they take 6% of the value of the final sale, which means no set up or monthly fees to join, just download the app, or fire it up from your computer and you’re ready to go.

Betsy Tobin at Ink@84, an indie bookshop in Highbury says how easy the system is and as the launch of the service has clashed with the launch of Pokemon Go she says people are making comparisons.

The difference with NearSt is that you’re using tech to track down an actual tangible product, and if it proves popular is likely to use tech to drive people back to the bookshops!

We think it’s an absolutely brilliant idea, and with shops such as Ink@84, Lutyens and Rubinstein, and Blackwells already signed up, it’s just a case of downloading the app and tracking down your books. Forget Pokemon Go, this is genius, and we really hope to see it rolled out to other cities soon!

Gotta catch ‘em all!

You can find out more about NearSt here.