Kenyans Embracing E-commerce As Text Book Centre’s Online Store Hits 150K Visits Monthly

When you open a book you open a new world, is arguably one of the best phrases that can summarise the importance of books in our everyday lives. Packed with knowledge, books are a rich source of information on various subjects that one would have never known if they chose never to open a book. Imagine if scholars never documented their studies?

For centuries, many have related to physical stores and libraries in our cities and villages as the source of books. But with the growth of technology in the Kenyan society, many have embraced buying books online.

Text Book Centre (TBC), a book store founded in 1964, has over the years grown to meet this very demand for Kenya’s budding and avid readers.

In addition to books, customers can also buy computers and accessories including laptops, software and printers among others.

Martin Wafula,  the TBC Strategy and Panning manager, says the traffic on their online store has drastically increased from 1,000 to an average of 150,000 visitors per month.

Speaking on Thursday last week during TBC’s awarding ceremony for loyalty card members, Mr Wafula stated that despite the high number of orders placed, the average delivery time within Nairobi is two hours. He noted that they’re working to make it even faster.

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Efficiency, he said, is key in the e-commerce business, and Text Book Centre has a dedicated team to ensure their customers’ expectations are met.

To place an order on the TBC’s online store, one can use their smartphone or desktop and simply select their desired item, fill delivery address and make payment through M-Pesa, Master Card or Visa. The standard delivery fee is Ksh250.

Canon country manager Zaffar Latif, who was the main speaker in the event, lauded the book store for its efforts to keep up with technology hence making it easier for people to shop at the comfort of their homes, or even while at their place of work.

“When Census guys were moving around in August, some of you were asked how much you purchase online. It just confirms that the next big thing is online buying [e-commerce]. It makes our work easier” said Latif.

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In August this year, Text Book Centre was voted as the best E-commerce website in the E-Commerce 2019 Awards.

The awards were sponsored by Vibrant Digital, Standard Group and Sendy, a platform for e-commerce door-to-door deliveries.

Thank you for Voting Text Book Centre as the best E-Commerce Website in the just concluded E-Commerce Awards 2019. We are happy to let you know that your efforts paid off as we emerged the winner! We appreciate your continued support year after year! pic.twitter.com/J4rCKMlDCb

— Text Book Centre (@TextBookCentre) August 15, 2019

To better its services, TBC recently opened a 20,000 square feet modern flagship store at Sarit Centre, Nairobi, in addition to a number of its stores in Nairobi.

The event that went down on November 19, was graced by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta and Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha.

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During the event, the First Lady called for increased investments and collaboration between authors, publishers, libraries and bookstores so as to create a reading culture which could only be enhanced through provision of good reading material whose content is relevant, accessible and affordable.

TBC stores are equipped with a wide range of reading materials ranging from Science, History, Math, Science Fiction, Satire, Drama, Action and Adventure, Romance, Mystery, Poetry, Encyclopedia, Dictionaries, Comics, Art, Biographies, Autobiographies, Fantasy and so much more.

Learners in Kenyan’s 8-4-4 and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) systems can get all they need from both TBC’s online and physical stores.

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