11street and MABOPA’s first-ever online book fest aims to cultivate Malaysians’ love for reading by bringing more publishers on board to offer books, stationery and media products with sales up to 70% and shipping discounts
Prominent bookstores such as MPH, BookXcess and Borders participate in book fest to offer a myriad of books on the online marketplace, which currently carries over 500,000 books and media available for online shoppers
Kuala Lumpur, 11 May 2017 – 11street, one of Malaysia’s largest e-malls, boosted its book inventories through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Malaysian Publishers Association (MABOPA) at the Kuala Lumpur Lifestyle Exhibition last week. The MoU aimed to bring in more publishers aboard its e-commerce wagon through 11street’s first-ever online book fair, ‘Pesta Buku Online’, and was signed by President of MABOPA, Ishak Hamzah and 11street’s General Manager of Merchandising, Lyle Yoo, witnessed by Abdul Wahab Ibrahim, Director, Permanent Secretariat of National Book Council, Malaysia.
The ‘Pesta Buku Online’ campaign came at the back of 11street’s recent finding that Malaysians have taken an increasing interest in purchasing books and media online. “Our recent campaign gave us a very surprising insight about Malaysian consumers, whereby product categories such as health and beauty; fashion; and electronics have always been the three most purchased by consumers. But now, consumers have also started looking into buying more books and media online,” said Lyle Yoo, 11street’s General Manager of Merchandising.
The campaign included exclusive online promotion to benefit some 1.3 million students in public and private universities in Malaysia, as they are eligible to enjoy discounts with their KAD Siswa 1Malaysia (KADS1M) for low prices, fantastic choices for books and media products on the 11street platform.
Reading for a Progressive Nation
The partnership was in tandem with MABOPA’s aspiration to contribute to the National e-Commerce Strategic Roadmap outlined by Malaysia’s Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), that aims to double the country’s e-commerce growth to 20.8% by 2020.
Ishak Hamzah, President of MABOPA said: “The book industry is no stranger to the technological change. In fact, the industry has evolved over the years to cater to the ever-shifting atmosphere, and now it has come to the booming era of social media marketing for books.
“As an association, we want to take on the government’s challenge so that Malaysian SMEs can transform themselves in accordance with the National e-Commerce Strategic Roadmap. Through the partnership with 11street, we believe that the book category will take its place in the limelight, and encourage more publishers and book sellers to sell online. This in turn will encourage more consumers to purchase books at competitive prices.”
According to the last National Literacy Survey carried out in 2014[1], it is reported that Malaysians read an average of fifteen books a year[i]. The partnership serves as an enabler for consumers to buy more books on 11street at competitive prices with a myriad of books options, from the convenience of a few mouse clicks. Most importantly, the partnership hoped to encourage Malaysians to read more books to inculcate a better reading habit.
Bookstores putting their “best book forward”
As part of its inaugural online book fair and promise to offer more product varieties on its platform, 11street has recently minted a partnership with MPH Bookstores – a bookstore no stranger to Malaysians. MPH Bookstores’ inclusion into the 11street family adds on to the latter’s existing 500,000 inventory.
In conjunction with this new partnership, from now until 19 May, MPH Bookstores rewards book lovers with discounts up to 70% on local and international titles, including new arrivals and bestsellers; along with “Buy 1 Free 1” promotions and value buy deals from as low as RM8.
For two weeks starting 5 May, consumers will see exclusive promotions from participating bookstores such as BookXcess, Borders, SMOBOOKSTORES and more. These literary items range from textbooks, reference materials, fictions and even stationeries.
Furthermore, the ‘Pesta Buku Online’ campaign also came with a shopping bonus in the form of RM7 shipping fee coupons, applicable for deliveries in East and West Malaysia. Avid book lovers are eligible to download the coupon on the 11street from 5 May to 19 May.
Yoo concluded: “11street is supportive of the government’s endeavours, hence our ‘Pesta Buku Online’ campaign. We hope that through this partnership, we are able to provide a sizeable relief for Malaysian students.”
The KADS1M is distributed to Malaysian university students and allows debit card cardholders to receive discounts, lucky draws and more from participating partners.
For more information on the ‘Pesta Buku Online’ campaign, please visit www.11street.my and www.kadsiswa.1pengguna.com/kads1m.
