On average, a student spends many hundreds of euros per year on study books. For example, KU Leuven advises students to take into account a budget of 250 to 750 euros for study materials per academic year.
It is therefore no surprise that many students prefer to buy second-hand books. According to research by the publisher, 49 percent of the 1,125 students surveyed sometimes bought second-hand textbooks. Money is central: 91.5 percent of respondents think it is (very) important to pay the best possible price for study books. Moreover, 79 percent of respondents sometimes sell study books themselves to earn some extra money.
Until now, the trade in second-hand books took place through the student’s immediate environment, second-hand shops, social media and other online trading platforms. But the research shows that more than 82.4 percent of the students surveyed would rather not spend too much time searching the internet for competitive prices for study materials.
It is precisely this need that the publisher wants to respond to. The ‘Used Study Books’ platform therefore only offers recent titles that are on the mandatory reading list of a course of study. The publisher hopes to simplify the search for affordable textbooks for students.