TIPS: Ordering Books from Kinokuniya
Can’t find the books you want or need in our stores? Not to worry! For those of you who are craving for certain books or just about any book that captures your fancy but cannot be found anywhere on our shelves, there is an easy solution: order it personally from us.
This way, even though the book might not be in stock now, it will definitely be available soon for your own private enjoyment. The books that you want will be ordered exclusively for you and will not be given away to other customers unless you cancel them.
Here is the How To Guide on ordering books in Kinokuniya Indonesia stores in Q&A style.
WHERE CAN I PLACE AN ORDER?
Currently, three of our stores, namely Jakarta Store (Plaza Senayan), Pondok Indah Store and Grand Indonesia Store, accept book orders that you wish to purchase but is not on ready stock in the store.
WHAT SORT OF MERCHANDISE IS AVAILABLE FOR ORDER AND WHAT IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR ORDER?
You can order: books, magazines, any printed material that has ISBN.
You cannot order: CD, DVD, VHS, merchandises that do not have ISBN.
CD-Roms and audio books (CD and/or cassette) are subject to shipment procedures and may or may not be ordered.
WILL ALL OF THE BOOKS I WANT BE AVAILABLE FOR ORDER?
When you present us with the list of books you want to order, our staffs will check and obtain the availability status of these books from our suppliers (this activity is called sourcing). If the suppliers have these books among their stocks, then yes, the books will be available for order. If the suppliers don’t have them among their stocks, then no, the books will not be available for order. In some cases, the suppliers reply our inquiries with statuses such as OUT OF PRINT or PERMANENTLY OUT OF STOCK. In this case, the books will never be available for order unless the publisher reprints or restocks them. However, there are books that come with the label NOT PUBLISHED YET, in which case these books will certainly be available in the future and you can still order them at a later date, after it is published.
NOTE: For the time being, UK-published books are not always available for order. We usually substitute UK publications with its US equivalents for customer orders (this simply means, we will order the US version of the same title for the books you want, if available). We kindly ask for your understanding in this matter.
CAN I ORDER BOOKS THAT ARE NOT YET PUBLISHED?
Yes. You can leave your name and your phone number with the title of the books you want that have not yet been published or will be published sometime in the future. This procedure is called pre-reservation.
To ensure that we don’t forget to order these books (we try out best not to forget, though), you can also give us a friendly reminder or drop by to repeat the inquiry at any given time before the order. If the book is ultra-famous, such as in the case of Harry Potter and Twilight series, then you don’t even have to remind us about it — chances are, we open a pre-order program for the general public and you can definitely participate!
CAN I ORDER BOOKS IN OTHER LANGUAGES BESIDES ENGLISH?
Yes. Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian books are all available for order.
WHERE DO YOU GET THE BOOKS FROM?
We have various suppliers all around the world (unfortunately, we cannot reveal who they are because we are bound by our company’s confidentiality policy). For customer orders, we usually order directly to publishers in the US and/or Singapore. In certain occasions, we also obtain stocks for our customer orders from our cousins in Kinokuniya Singapore and Malaysia… but not always. The reason for that is because we are aware that Kinokuniya Singapore and Malaysia both also have a large customer base and they need to be able to constantly supply books to them. This is why, we usually order straight from the publishers.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THE ORDERS TO ARRIVE FROM OVERSEAS TO JAKARTA?
Generally 3-4 weeks using air shipment.
HOW MUCH WILL MY ORDER COSTS?
Since all costs will be inclusive in the book’s price, any book you order will cost the same as other books in the store. Our Customer Service Staffs will give you a price estimation every time you place an order. This way, you know how much you will spend for these books.
HOW DO I BEGIN?
First of all, select the titles you want. Knowing the exact titles of the book you wish to order expedites the sourcing process. If you don’t know yet what titles interest you, you can check them out first in Kinokuniya BookWeb System and/or Amazon.com. These websites are great for title and summary references!
Since knowing the specifics helps our staffs during the sourcing process, please provide as many details as possible. Other than taking note of the titles during your title-search in Kinokuniya BookWeb and Amazon, please also take note of the name(s) of author(s), publisher, publication date and, most importantly, ISBN. (We use both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 so any of these or even both will be welcomed!)
Furthermore, you can consider these as well:
- Paperback or Hardcover?
- US version or UK version?
- Latest edition or any available edition?
- Which one concerns you more: cost or speed?
When you know which books you want, come and visit us at our stores and place your order in the aforementioned branches!
DO YOU REQUIRE DOWN PAYMENT?
Yes, we do. We require a down payment at the amount of 30% of the total estimate price.
Example 1: if the estimate price of the book is IDR 300,000,- then the down payment would be IDR 90,000,-.
Example 2: if you order three books that would amount to IDR 850,000,- in total price estimation, the down payment would be IDR 255,000,-.
NOTE 1: In Kinokuniya Jakarta Store (Plaza Senayan), down payments are paid by Gift Vouchers. Since we have only 2 denominations of vouchers (50,000 and 100,000) we round up the orders. For example, a down payment of IDR 90,000,- would be rounded up to 100,000,- in Gift Vouchers and a down payment of IDR 255,000,- will be rounded down to 250,000,- in Gift Vouchers.
NOTE 2: In some cases where the estimated price of the books are very high/expensive, the down payment will be 50% of the estimate.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I CANCEL MY ORDER?
Contact us immediately when you wish to cancel your orders. All order cancellations need to be approved by the store managers and the process might take some time. Our customer service staffs will explain to you what the next step would be!
I WANT TO KNOW MORE. CAN I MAKE MORE INQUIRIES BEFORE I ORDER?
Write us in customer_service@kinokuniya.co.id and we’ll be happy to explain further.
