Basically, the front end is what the user sees, the website and the store interface (think amazon.com) the back-end is the admin side of things (the database with all the information on the products etc) where you can manage the store.
Actually the thing is a friend of mine is a publisher of malayalam ( a native language of india) books. There is a big market in that in india and abroad since no website caters to it.
So basically the site is to sell the books.
This is a low investment project
since we are based in india it is possible to invest in a website without losing your shirt.
As for the book sites being saturated
you may not be believe it but in india not many people buy books from sites.