Bustling market for textbooks and school supplies

(Baonghean) -The new school year 2011-2012 is approaching, the market for textbooks and school supplies is also "heating up" due to promotional discount programs to attract consumers from Centers, Companies, and Bookstores. Compared to 2010, this year the price of textbooks and school supplies increased by an average of 10-17%, the price of books increased the most at the primary level, followed by the secondary and high school levels...

During these days, at Thanh Vinh Bookstore, Book and School Equipment Joint Stock Company, North Central Book Center (Nghe An), the number of customers coming to buy textbooks and school supplies has increased significantly, especially on Saturdays and Sundays. Due to the pressure of increasing prices of raw materials for production and labor costs, this year the Government has allowed the price of textbooks printed in 2011 to increase by 16.9% compared to the same period in 2010. Thus, textbooks printed before 2011 will keep the same price, if the books printed in 2011 will have a new price printed on top of the old price (done by the Publishing House). Accordingly, the unified nationwide listing list of the Education Publishing House, the retail price of standard textbooks from grade 1 to grade 12, the lowest price is 45,300 VND/set (grade 2 set), the most expensive is 143,200 VND/set (grade 12), not including reference and supplementary books.

Textbooks printed before 2011 keep the same price.

At Nghe An Book and School Equipment Joint Stock Company, since the beginning of 2011, the area has been expanded, dividing the sales areas of all kinds of books and school supplies to serve customers more conveniently. Textbooks from grades 1 to 12 are all packaged and have their prices listed publicly. Ms. Mai Hong, a cashier of the Company, said: "The first-grade textbooks such as grades 1, 6 and 10 sell better than the remaining grades. Particularly, domestically produced school supplies are increasingly dominating the market, up to 80% of the items serving the new school year because these products are cheap, only 1/2 - 1/3 compared to imported goods."

This year, famous companies in the school supplies industry such as Thien Long, Hong Ha, Ben Nghe, Kim Thanh continue to assert their superiority when launching pens and notebooks for students with many different designs, colors, and sizes. Especially, the prices are suitable for Vietnamese consumers. Currently, fountain pens of all kinds cost from 25,000-60,000 VND/piece; highlighters, pencils, wax, mechanical pencils... cost from 2,000-10,000 VND/piece. For notebooks, there are not many changes in design, the cover is mainly designed with floral motifs, countryside scenes, and cartoon characters. And brands such as Vinh Tien, Hong Ha, Tien Thanh, Hoa Binh... are still the products chosen by customers. Along with the pressure of increasing raw paper prices, the price of notebooks for students this year has also been adjusted to increase by about 15% compared to last year. Depending on the paper quality, brightness, and natural whiteness of the product, 72-page notebooks cost from 4,000 to 8,000 VND/book, 120-page notebooks cost from 6,000 to 12,000 VND/book. Pencil boxes, rulers, erasers, pencil sharpeners, notebook covers, etc. also sell well. Beautiful designs and diverse prices are the common trend for this product.

The items of briefcases and backpacks are also very rich and diverse, suitable for all ages, with many improved designs for customers to choose from; with the criteria of no smell, waterproof, with supportive straps, lined with soft leather or cotton to avoid shoulder pain. There are types of school bags that can be lowered into suitcases to help young students avoid sagging shoulders and hunchback. Currently, super light school bags (weighing no more than 0.9 kg) of brands Ladoda, Hami, Miti... in addition to nylon, canvas, polyester, checkered parachute material is being favored by customers; depending on the material, size, the price ranges from 80,000 - 350,000 VND/piece.

Besides the usual school supplies, many new products have been introduced to protect students' health and help them prevent nearsightedness while studying, such as anti-nearsightedness lamps, anti-glare boards, chin rests, etc., which are also introduced and sold widely in bookstores.

To welcome the new school year, to attract customers, many promotional programs have been launched quite vigorously. Big C Supermarket pays special attention to students with the promotion program "Welcome the new school year" lasting for 2 weeks (from July 20 to August 2, 2011). The program offers many incentives with more than 560 items of school supplies, uniforms, school bags, backpacks, books, bicycles, computers, milk... sold at a discount of 10 - 40% with many practical gifts for the new school year. Coming to the program, parents will save a significant amount of money.

At small retail stores specializing in selling textbooks and stories of all kinds (located along Nguyen Van Cu Street - Vinh City), the shopping atmosphere is also bustling and bustling, not much less than that of large bookstores, with advertising banners: Welcome to the new school year, happy shopping at cheap prices... While state-owned bookstores only discount 5-15% on textbooks and reference books for customers, these private bookstores are generous in reducing prices from 15-25% thanks to saving on labor and space costs. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, owner of Sy Thuy bookstore - on Nguyen Van Cu Street, textbooks and school equipment this year are very diverse and abundant, with many options at different prices. Currently, purchasing power has increased by 30% compared to last month and domestically produced products are chosen by more parents...

As the new school year begins, choosing a suitable set of textbooks and school supplies for your child is the top concern of parents.

Ngoc Anh