TP - After each school year, education departments and schools nationwide register parents and students to purchase textbooks, workbooks, reference books, and school supplies for the new school year. What kind of "commission" is involved in this practice of buying books on behalf of students? A reporter from Tien Phong newspaper, posing as a book distributor, investigated this issue.
Textbooks will be offered at a significant discount.
Through the publicly available phone number of the sales department of the publisher of the "Wings of the Kite" textbook series (Vietnam Educational Publishing and Equipment Investment Company (VEPIC) in collaboration with the University of Pedagogy Publishing House, Hue University Publishing House, and Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy Publishing House), we arranged a meeting with the sales representative. Before the meeting, the representative sent us a price list for the textbooks for all grade levels for our reference.
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Employees allegedly from the Educational Publishing House discuss "commissions" for textbooks. |
Upon arriving at the official distributor's address for the Cánh Diều textbook series on Trung Kính Street (Cầu Giấy District, Hanoi ), we met an employee named L. "I want to purchase the books to distribute to schools through the education departments and sell online. Could you tell me about the commission percentage, delivery options, and payment methods?" I asked.
After a moment of thought, employee L. asked, "Have you sold books before, or are you just starting? What kind of discounts did other places offer previously?" I replied that I had sold a few books and now wanted to find more suppliers to get a better discount.
Having apparently grasped the customer's needs, the employee stated that the company was the main distributor of the "Wings of the Kite" textbook series in the North. "The company can only sell to you without invoices or contracts. Selling to schools requires those documents; if you want them, we'll forward them to our lower-level distributors. The goods will be delivered directly to your location and to each school by our company's vehicles. You must pay in advance for each order," the employee said. "Would you like to pay in installments (paying off old debts with new orders)?" I suggested, but the employee shook their head in refusal.
Seeing my hesitation, the employee continued: "We're giving you a 15% discount on textbooks, that's the highest price we can offer; other places only give 13%. Workbooks are 20%, supplementary and reference books are 25%, and teacher's books are only 10%. We can only offer these discounts if you order in large quantities. Later, if you order more, we'll adjust the price further. But rest assured, the maximum discount on textbooks is 15%, which is much higher than many other places."
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Employee L. discussed the discount rate for the "Wings of the Kite" book series. |
Employee L. added that the company only sells to distributors, collecting payment immediately, and these distributors then sell the books through education departments. Typically, selling through education departments results in longer payment times, with some orders taking up to six months, so the company doesn't do it.
The tactic of increasing discounts.
We continued to contact the publishers of the two book series, "Connecting Knowledge with Life" and "Creative Horizons" (compiled and published by Vietnam Education Publishing House). Through discussions with officials of a joint-stock company specializing in book distribution for Vietnam Education Publishing House in the North, we were introduced to a distribution officer at a bookstore located in Ha Dong district (Hanoi).
After the introduction, I expressed my interest in purchasing a large quantity of books to sell to schools in the southern districts of Hanoi. The employee asked, "How long have you been doing this? How do you want to order them? Do you have any orders yet? If you've already sold books, have you sourced them through local book distributors in Ha Tay (Ha Tay Book and School Equipment Joint Stock Company) or Hanoi?" I explained that I was new to this sales business, lacked experience, and didn't source through local book distributors.
This person stated that the southern area of Hanoi is the market for local book publishing companies, and the book market is divided by district and province. “It would be better if you sent a vehicle to the bookstore to pick up the books; we’ll give you a good price. We’ll sell the books in boxes, and you can check the inventory yourself. Textbooks are discounted by 11% (11%), and workbooks by 15% (15%). Textbooks cannot be bought on credit; payment must be made immediately. This is the highest discount, but you have to buy in large quantities. If you buy a large quantity of workbooks, the discount will be adjusted upwards by 0.5% (meaning workbooks will have a 15.5% discount). Even a 1% or 2% profit on textbooks is a problem. Selling textbooks requires sales volume; selling to distributors only yields a maximum of 9 or 10%,” this seller said.
The salesperson showed us how to include reference books and exercises in the textbook set to increase the discount: "If you buy textbooks through the Department of Education and Training, you only get 7-8% (%). Even a fraction of a percentage like that is a lot. We have many reference books; you can add them to the list of books to sell alongside. The 'lightest' discount for reference books is still 35% (35%)."
According to this employee, two sets of textbooks from the Vietnam Education Publishing House recently announced price reductions compared to last year. Specifically, the cover prices of this year's reprinted textbooks have decreased compared to previous years. The cover price of the "Connecting Knowledge with Life" series decreased by 9.6%, and the cover price of the "Creative Horizons" series decreased by 11.2%. The discounts and distribution fees mentioned above have been applied to these new prices.
Furthermore, this person stated that if the two parties cooperate, no contract will be signed and no invoices will be issued. "This isn't a legal issue; the textbook market share has long been clearly defined by region, and no one should be competing with the other," the employee said, adding that the company is a distributor supplying books to publishing companies in the provinces.
Textbooks currently sold by publishers to students in secondary schools fall into three main categories: official textbooks according to the list prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training; supplementary books, compiled closely following the content of the textbooks, such as workbooks, writing practice books, and reference books, providing additional exercises and knowledge to expand students' understanding. The price of each book is announced and printed specifically on the back cover.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/ai-huong-phi-phat-hanh-ban-sach-giao-khoa-post1661846.tpo
