The Sunday News
Njabulo Bhebe, Business Reporter
ONE of Bulawayo’s leading stationery and gifts retail outlets, Stationery and Gift Shop is eyeing to venture into books manufacturing as part of efforts to grow its business and establishing itself as a major player in the book industry.
Stationery and Gift Shop managing director Mr Sisolani Mhlophe said venturing into books production is one of the company’s long-term strategies aimed at growing its business.
The retail outlet, which was established 10 years ago, recently opened its second branch in Bulawayo.
“We started operations in 2009 and we had one shop. We have since opened another to cater for a wider market in Bulawayo as well as to grab a larger chunk of the Matabeleland region market. Our next step is to move into the production part, which will see us manufacturing exercise books. This is a long-term plan, which resonates with the growth of our business. We have realised that there is a gap in the books printing industry especially in Matabeleland as most books are being printed in Harare,” said Mr Mhlophe.
The newly opened shop has added school uniforms to the list of products it offers, which includes a wide range of stationery, toys and various ornaments offered to one as gifts.
“The new branch is more spacious and we have added uniforms for elite schools to our lines of products,” said Mr Mhlophe.
He said the introduction of the new school curriculum by Government in 2017 was a boon to the book industry.
“The sector is growing given the fact that there has been a marked increase in the number of schools being constructed and pupil enrolments over the past years and this has culminated in increased demand of our products such as textbooks and pens. The introduction of the new curriculum was a blessing to the book industry as it has seen every grade using new set of textbooks and this has significantly boosted our sales,” said Mr Mhlophe.
He, however, said piracy has affected booksellers’ operations resulting in revenue losses.
“The growing number of vendors selling textbooks on the streets is threatening our business and to make matters worse most of the books are not from publishers but are photocopied. Some of the vendors have the audacity of selling their books in front of our shops thus diverting our potential customers before entering our premises. The presence of these vendors has negatively affected our sales as their books are sold at a cheaper price, which happens to be attractive to buyers,” said Mr Mhlophe.
