Alladin add books category to its products

Locally owned e-commerce company Alladin has launched a book category in its e-commerce platform to make reading materials available and more accessible to book enthusiast amid coronavirus pandemic which has seen libraries closed, learners sent home and workers encouraged to work from home under lockdown.

Speaking during the launch in Nairobi, Alladin Marketing Manager Mr. Jayaprakasha M E stated that the launch reinforces the company’s commitment to innovation that will expand consumers’ experience within the online market.

“The e-commerce of reading items and materials has witnessed a major spike in demand and new customers. Since March, the demand for books has gone up forcing Alladin find mechanisms to meet the increasing demand. It has also led to the birth of a new wave of online shoppers and that itself will be interesting to see if e-commerce players are able to retain this new wave of customers post the lockdown and post Corona Pandemic,” added Mr. Jayaprakasha.

The company said that it is offering real time, based delivery services with its delivery executives dropping off the package at the customer’s doorstep.

“Reading materials include motivational books and soon we are starting the Ebooks category for learners to as well access content at this time and period where we are faced with the corona pandemic,” said Patrick Muraya, Alladin Information technology consultant

So far, the company has partnered with a number of authors including Esther Muchemi, the author of Give me my Mountain and founder of Samchi Group.

“With this partnership, we look forward to increasing our sales by selling over 20,000 copies online till the end of the year. To hit this target, we are targeting customers within the East African region and beyond,” said Esther Muchemi, author of Give me my Mountain, a motivational book

Online retail sales have risen dramatically since March, with a 74% growth in average transaction volumes compared with the same period last year, according to data from ACI Worldwide. The analysis, of hundreds of millions of transactions from global online retailers, demonstrates the extent to which people’s shopping habits have changed as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

Alladin is a Kenyan E-commerce platform that sells items online and with its physical shops across the country with the focus of selling locally manufactured items.