Bookseller turns over a new leaf with lofty plan to go digital, expand

Why has it taken this long for Text Book Centre (TBC) to enter Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD)?

This was perhaps the most puzzling question on many minds when the bookstore giant recently opened its tenth branch at 680 Hotel, Kenyatta Avenue.

“We were looking for the right place, and we understood from the many requests that it is easier to access the CBD,” Chief Executive Armand Houahu told Financial Standard. There are two other substantive bookstores in the CBD - Savannis on Latema Road and Prestige on Mama Ngina. Some years ago iconic BookPoint exited the market. There’s also a huge informal market of booksellers, dotting the city streets dubbed “inama bookshops,” selling cheap second-hand books.

TBC traces its roots to 1964 as a partnership between two businessmen - SV Shah and MJ Rughani.

It has since risen to become an educational and office supplies conglomerate across the region.

Two years ago the owners tapped Houahu, an Ivorian, in an ambitious expansion drive aimed at making the firm the “Amazon of East Africa.”

He is a seasoned expert with global experience in the retail sector and management consultancy. Before joining TBC, Houahu was Nike’s head of retail for the European market based in the Netherlands.

TBC is betting huge on its e-commerce business to hit its target.

Well, Amazon started as an online bookstore and has risen as the world’s top online retailer.

“We are well on that track and very forward-thinking in terms of digitising and exploring the Kenyan market and beyond,” said Mr Houahu.

He noted that TBC has come to represent much more than a bookshop following years of diversification.

Technology has over the years changed reading and education. The recently introduced Competency-Based Curriculum (BCB) has also since adapted to this new model of learning.

“People see us as a bookshop, but we are one of the largest electronics retailers in the country,” said Houahu on TBC which offers services in retail, wholesale and distribution.

Over the years, the company has diversified into electronics, including computers, printers, photocopiers, paper-shredders and other office equipment and supplies. This is aside from its core activity of supplying textbooks and educational materials such as stationery to educational institutions, professionals and international organisations in East Africa and far as Malawi.

The new branch at 680 Hotel, on Kenyatta Avenue, is part of the company’s strategic plan to expand its retail network. The move was informed by TBC’s need to increase its footprint and boost growth by increasing its customer base.

At the opening, TBC announced a strategic expansion plan that will also see the firm focus on supplying schools and other institutions.

“We’ll expand across the country because being in Nairobi doesn’t represent Kenya entirely. We’re looking at potentially expanding to Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu and Eldoret by order of priority,” said Houahu.

Regionally, TBC had exited Uganda, but is looking to return there soon.

Houahu said special emphasis would be placed on strengthening e-commerce. This has seen TBC build on its logistics capacity to deliver countrywide, regionally and even abroad.

“Nowadays one can order online on TBC and have their order delivered within 24 hours anywhere in Nairobi and the greater Nairobi,” he said.

This will see them access the counties, which have for long struggled to find booksellers offering variety.

“Countrywide we can now deliver in between 42 hours and 78 hours and even internationally to Kenyans in the diaspora buying, for example, Kiswahili books,” said Houahu.

A new website with additional features such as allowing customers to place orders on books TBC does not have in their catalogue is in the pipeline. Houahu noted that TBC had started to invest heavily in e-commerce before Covid-19 struck, but the pandemic accelerated the move, redefining brick and mortar retail.

He said they are also considering things like online gaming and hope to develop their own technology for supporting e-books and audiobooks.

E-books, Houahu said, offer the option of carrying multiple books at a go but seem to have plateaued.  

“Everybody thought physical books would be dead by the coming of e-books. However, across the world, they’ve never represented more than 15 per cent of the total bookselling business,” he said.

The pandemic has also not spared TBC, with a key part of their business being educational and schools remaining closed for the better part of last year. Houahu however said the electronics business helped them mitigate the Covid-19 impact and they did not lay off any staff.  

And with schools reopening, the rollout of vaccines and the reopening of the economy, he remains upbeat about the future. Houahu, however, says Covid-19 still remains the biggest headache for most business leaders.

“People have learnt to live with the virus and are coming back. Our retail business is picking up compared to when the virus struck. In terms of actual business, we’ve seen a recovery,” he said.