Special report
Conclusion
MANILA, Philippines — Books were not directly impacted by the higher tariffs imposed by the US. But the domino effects of US President Donald Trump’s policy sent shockwaves across the global trade system, eventually hitting books.
The impact came in the form of higher shipping costs, weaker foreign exchange and shipment delays. And for Filipino businesses selling second-hand or preloved imported books, it meant a whole lot of coping.
Booksale Philippines, one of the country’s largest sellers of bargain books, has embarked on multiple promotional tactics, including month-long sales, to get rid of its stocks faster.
A quicker turnaround of stocks would mean cash, and more cash would mean a better financial position instead of the books just piled up in their stores.
This October, Booksale held a month-long sale wherein at least 10,000 books were up for grabs for as low as P5 each.
Joshua Emmanuel Sison, president of Visual Mix Inc., which runs Booksale, said they could not raise retail prices right off the bat since it would dampen customer demand.
Visual Mix is in constant negotiation with its suppliers in the US and the UK to bargain for the prices of books that it buys. Booksale is also trying to move more stocks through various e-commerce platforms.
The company is also partnering with other brands to entice young consumers to read, especially printed materials.
Dealing with changes
Janijay Alonzo, COO of Bookchigo Trading Corp., admitted that the books they source from Europe have been indirectly affected by the current global trade dynamics. The impact mainly comes from higher costs of printing books and shipping fees.
For now, Bookchigo, which has become popular due to its books-by-weight (books per kilo) scheme, still absorbs whatever costs have been passed on to them by their foreign suppliers.
“We are not a profit-oriented company. Our advocacy is providing cheaper books,” Alonzo told The STAR.
“If these price increases are not significant to the point of killing our business, then we will just find better opportunities to recover the additional costs instead of raising prices upfront,” he added.
Bookchigo sells books at a standard rate of P200 per kilo while its warehouse deal is discounted at P180 per kilo with a bonus one kilo for every three kilos bought. A kilo of books would range from six to 10 pieces.
The company also offers wholesale rates that range from P100 per kilo to P140 per kilo depending on the weight. For example, one pallet of books weighing approximately 500 kilos would be priced at P110 per kilo.
“Our prices are even cheaper than buying a fake one or illegally printed books,” Alonzo said.
Popular demand
Both Booksale and Bookchigo’s most in-demand books are for children. The two entities attribute this to the number of Filipino kids today whose parents have opted to expose them to printed materials, particularly books, steering them away from gadgets such as smartphones and tablets.
In 2020, the Philippine Statistics Authority recorded that there were 11,270,637 million Filipinos aged five to nine years old while there were another 11,069,479 Filipinos below the age of five.
“Kids are being raised now through English books. There has been more demand now for English books in Southeast Asia in general, not just in the Philippines,” Sison said.
Bookchigo was the brainchild of Alonzo’s daughter during the COVID-19 pandemic. The older Alonzo’s daughter, Kathleen, is a book lover and thought of selling the imported books that would otherwise sit idle in their warehouses. Bookchigo is a portmanteau of book and chigo, the Japanese word for “young child.”
Around 70 percent of Bookchigo’s stocks are children’s books while the remaining volume are novels and non-fictions.
“For an ordinary family earning P500 to P600 a day, book buying is not a priority. If a family can buy books at an affordable rate then that family is empowered throughout generations,” Alonzo said.
Habit of reading
For Alonzo and Sison, the bigger challenge is improving the country’s literacy. And both of them want to do this one book at a time.
“We saw an opportunity to provide books on a per kilo basis. Imagine, one can build a mini or home library with just P5,000,” Alonzo said.
“And if you look at it, this has a huge multiplier effect if we are able to sell books to different parts of the country through physical stores and online,” he added.
Bookchigo holds regular live selling activities on Facebook where buyers, whether parents or prospective resellers or retailers, can buy by the kilo and even by the pallet. The book store now has 173,000 followers.
When Sison assumed the reins of Booksale from his father a year ago, he saw firsthand the dire reality about the country’s reading culture.
“We really see the problem when it comes to literacy when you see your sales going down even if you have the stocks and all the sales in effect. You realize that it’s the economic status of the country as people put their money elsewhere,” he said.
“I have known those problems before but this time I have seen the numbers and it talks to me,” he added.
Around eight out of 10 Filipinos aged five to nine have basic literacy, which refers to an individual’s ability to read and write a simple message as well as perform basic mathematical operations, according to the PSA.
Alonzo said it has become their social responsibility to “flood” the country with “quality” and “affordable” books in the hopes of improving Filipinos’ literacy.
“Since we get books at a lower cost because there is no tariff and VAT, we believe our obligation is to offer these at a lower price to the public,” Alonzo said.
“It is a symbiotic relationship: we survive as a decent business while advocating for literacy. That way, we can have a better future for the Philippines in the decades to come with easier access to quality books at affordable prices,” he added.