PETALING JAYA, Nov 4 ― For avid readers in Malaysia, the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is a calendar event not to be missed.

Like many businesses around the world however, Covid-19 has forced the annual sale to take place online instead of its usual venue at the Mines International Exhibition and Convention Centre in Seri Kembangan, Kuala Lumpur.

This is the first time the beloved event is held online.

The sale starts today until November 11 and has more than 20 million books and 40,000 titles available to readers beginning with prices starting from below RM5 and discounts up to 90 per cent.

"The safety of our shoppers and staff is our main priority,” Big Bad Wolf founder Jacqueline Ng told Coconuts KL yesterday.

"With our new e-commerce platform, everyone in Malaysia can buy books at this year’s Big Bad Wolf Book Sale safely, no matter where they are.”

Response has been so overwhelming to the point the website has been crashing since midnight, prompting the Big Bad Wolf team to issue an apology on Instagram.

"Sorry, we are currently experiencing heavy traffic on our website.

"Please try again shortly,” the message read.

 

Shoppers took to the comments section to air their grouses, from not being able to "search for a single thing” to "all items in my cart are missing”.

Others reminded disappointed shoppers to be patient and give the IT support team time to fix the issue.

The MPH Virtual Warehouse Clearance offers shoppers savings of up to 40 per cent. ― Picture courtesy of MPH

Another annual sale that has been forced to take place digitally is the MPH Virtual Warehouse Clearance which starts today.

According to a press release, the catalogue for all items on sale during the sale period will be updated every two weeks.

Book lovers will be pleased to know that the titles available are up to 40 per cent off with an additional 10 per cent for purchases above RM200 in a single receipt.

There’s also free delivery with a minimum purchase of RM300 nett.

However, the sale is only available to customers within the Klang Valley.

"Despite all that’s going on, we want to ensure that our community of book lovers can still enjoy the full experience of a books clearance sale, from the safety and comfort of their own homes.

"Thus, the idea of bringing the MPH Warehouse Sale to a virtual platform was sparked,” said MPH Group business operations head Vijayan Nadesan.

Visit here for the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale and here for the MPH Virtual Warehouse Clearance.