Official book publishers, sellers to increase stock of school textbooks, workbooks on Shopee

PETALING JAYA: Book publishers and sellers with official distribution rights to school textbooks and workbooks will increase their stock on their Shopee stores.

This is to address a nationwide shortage of school textbooks in the open market.

The issue, which was frontpaged by The Star on Feb 2, has become worse due to the movement control order preventing books being distributed quickly to retailers.

The Malaysian Book Publishers Association (Mapoba), Malaysian Booksellers Association (MBA) and Shopee have consolidated all the textbooks and workbooks being offered under a single “Kedai Buku Shopee” for parents to obtain the books for their children.

Mapoba president Arief Hakim Sani Rahmat said the MCO should not be seen as a reason to stop teaching and learning activities.

Textbooks and workbooks for Year One to Form Six can be found in the e-commerce platform.

“As publishers, we strive to publish the highest quality textbooks, and ensure availability nationwide, ” he said in a joint statement on Wednesday (Feb 3).

He added that they have reached out to all their members to increase their stocks for online sale while discussing with their partner distributors and booksellers to facilitate sales through Shopee.

MBA president Keith Thong said booksellers are “all ready and prepared to serve” in this technological age.

Shopee regional managing director Ian Ho said they will be offering 20% Coins cashback vouchers to “help alleviate the stress parents have been going through.”

Parents can use voucher code “KEDAIBUKU10” to earn 20% Coin cashbacks with value up to RM10 for purchases of books under the “Kedai Buku Shopee” initiative.

Those interested can visit https://shopee.com.my/kedaibukushopee.