Indigo Books Partners with Canadian Startup to Launch Textbook Rentals
Earlier this month Amazon.com launched a textbook rental service allowing US students to borrow print editions for a school term at up to 70 per cent off the price of new titles.
Not to be outdone by their behemoth US competitor, Canada’s largest book retailer is following suit and has partnered with a Canadian startup to make it happen.
According to TextbookRental.ca CEO Brandon Luft, his company has reached an agreement with Indigo Books to bring them into the textbook rental market in Canada. Late last week a landing page was added to the Indigo site that links off to the TextbookRental.ca site.
Book Industry Study Group research found that textbook rentals rose last year from 8 per cent of the market to 11 per cent, with a corresponding drop in new textbook sales, from 59 to 55 per cent. There is also a sizeable second-hand market in textbooks.
The Toronto-based startup also announced that they’ve added used textbooks to their offering. So students can now take care of their entire textbook needs through used and rented textbooks without stepping foot into a lineup or a bookstore.
