The world’s biggest book sale returns to the Philippines this Wednesday, albeit virtually.
The annual Big Bad Wolf (BBW) book fair, which offers some 60,000 titles at discounted prices, will be held from June 30 to July 7 on e-commerce site, signup-ph.bbwbooks.com/.
According to cofounder Jacqueline Ng, this year’s pivot to an online sale aims to minimize the risk of Covid-19 transmission and make the event more accessible to bookworms outside of Metro Manila. The event will feature bigger title selections in a variety of genres, from children and adult fiction to self-help and other nonfiction best sellers.
“Whenever we do physical sales, we have logistics and location constraints in terms of the number of books we can bring,” Ng said during the event’s recent launch. “For [the online sale], we opened up our whole inventory.”
The book sale was launched in Malaysia back in 2009. It has since gone global and toured 34 cities in 12 countries.
With web site traffic expected to surge throughout the duration of the sale, BBW cofounder Andrew Yap assured that the site will be running smoothly.
“Even up until our sixth year, we were still struggling with web site traffic,” he said. “The system’s more stable now.”
Book hunting is now easier, too, as users will be able to browse for books by genre or search by keywords, title, author, or International Standard Book Number (ISBN). The shipping fee is calculated upon checkout, depending on the volume and weight of the purchase and the location of the delivery. Shipping may take two to three weeks as the books will be shipped from Malaysia.
“Unfortunately, cash-on-delivery is not an option for us,” Ng said. “Although we offer several payment options.”
Online payments will be accepted through e-payment providers including Dragonpay, eGHL, GCash, GrabPay, as well as online bank transactions through BDO and BPI. Free shipping is offered anywhere in the Philippines for a minimum purchase of P2,900.
To help raise awareness on the importance of reading, BBW has also partnered with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) in a joint effort to uphold copyright and intellectual property values within the publishing industry and to recognize the principles surrounding copyright laws and the need to safeguard the authors and content creators.
“We’ve always been warmly welcomed in the Philippines, and we’re thrilled to be able to come back virtually,” Ng said. “In the future, once the pandemic dissipates and the world re-opens its borders, we certainly look forward to hosting more physical book sales in the Philippines.”