Thai bookstore Asia Books plans to open new stores domestically and overseas as it targets 20 to 25 per cent revenue growth this year.

Last year, Asia books opened eight stores taking its store count to 33 across Thailand. Its 1000sqm store at CentralWorld worth 100 million baht (US$3.23 million) is its largest.

This year, the bookstore – which is owned by tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi – plans to invest 120 million baht (US$3.88 million) to open a further 12 stores nationwide. Next year, it plans to establish a presence in neighbouring countries.

Its e-book store with about 1 million books downloadable in Thai and English languages has been launched at the bookstore’s website www.asiabooks.com.

“We set up an e-book store platform and invested around 10 million baht for digital investigation management, software to protect our copyrights. Although revenue from e-books accounted for only five per cent of our total sales last year, we believe this will rise to at least 10 per cent by 2014,” said MD Sirote Jiraprayoon.

GB