📌 Executive Summary:
In an age where online shopping rules the market, book enthusiasts often find it hard to discover specific titles—especially old or rare ones. BookWorm bridges this gap by becoming a digital marketplace where users can buy, sell, or request books, all within one simple, mobile-friendly platform. Whether you’re a collector, a casual reader, or someone looking to declutter by selling old titles, BookWorm makes the process smooth, secure, and community-driven.
🔍 Challenges:
- Readers couldn’t find a centralized platform to buy both new and secondhand books.
- Book availability, especially for academic or regional titles, was inconsistent.
- Sellers lacked a dedicated space to list books and manage transactions smoothly.
- No mechanism to request unavailable books or notify sellers of market demand.
- Most existing solutions focused on big-box inventory, not peer-to-peer exchange
🧩 Solution:
We developed BookWorm as a hybrid e-commerce and listing platform, focusing on:
- Book Marketplace: Users can browse and purchase from a wide variety of books—new, used, niche, or rare.
- Request Feature: Can’t find a book? Users can post a request, prompting sellers to respond with listings.
- Seller Mode: Any user can switch to seller mode, list books, manage stock, and fulfill orders.
- Smart Search & Filtering: Advanced search filters based on genre, author, price, condition, etc.
- Delivery System: BookWorm handles logistics—books get delivered directly to buyers’ addresses.
👣 User Journey:
- Onboarding
- User signs up, selects reader or seller preferences, and sets their location.
2. Buying a Book
- Browses/searches for books, checks reviews, adds to cart, and confirms delivery address.
3. Requesting a Book
- Posts a request for a book not found on the platform.
- Receives notifications when a seller uploads it.
4. Selling a Book
- Uploads book details with photos, condition, and price.
- Gets order alerts, confirms shipping, and tracks delivery.
⚙️ Technical Implementation:
🧭 Book Listings & Requests
- Users can post listings with ISBN recognition and auto-filling metadata.
- Request system triggers notifications to sellers based on genre/interest.
🛒 E-commerce Integration
- Cart, checkout, order tracking, and cancellation/refund logic.
- Integrated address management and delivery tracking.
📦 Logistics & Notifications
- Delivery coordination with partner couriers via API.
- Real-time order status updates via push notifications and email.
🧰 Technology Stack:
| Layer | Tools/Technologies |
| Frontend | React Native |
| Backend | Django REST Framework |
| Database | PostgreSQL |
| Authentication | JWT |
| Storage | GCP storage |
| Push Notifications | Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) |
| Logistics Integration | ShipRocket API / Custom Delivery APIs |
| Hosting | GCP Compute engine |
📈 Success Metrics & Potential Impact:
While the platform is still in early stages, the potential impact is already visible:
- High engagement around the book request feature.
- Sellers reported ease of uploading and managing inventory.
- Improved book discovery for rare and academic titles.
- A stronger sense of community and trust through buyer-seller interactions.
🚧 Challenges Overcome:
| Challenge | Solution |
| Managing book data | ISBN API integration for faster, cleaner listing |
| Delivery coordination | Plugged in logistics APIs to automate shipment tracking |
| Preventing fake listings | Enabled user verification and review system for sellers |
| Making the UI seller-friendly | Built a focused dashboard just for listing, tracking, and earnings |
✅ Conclusion:
BookWorm isn’t just another app for buying books—it’s a community-driven marketplace that empowers readers to find what they love and sellers to share what they have. By combining commerce, logistics, and user-centric design, it brings the joy of book discovery back into the digital space—personal, accessible, and scalable.
