Branching out from their core book business, the site also offers music, games and films. Pricing seems to be fairly competitive and they will apparently offer books at cheaper prices online than in-store. Cross-referencing a few prices with other local online retailers quickly highlights that shopping around is however still prudent.

 

While the Avusa subsidiary may have had plans to launch the first local site to sell electronic books, they were thwarted by Kalahari.net, who quietly launched an ebook store on Wednesday morning.

 

Kalahari’s ebook store offers books in both PDF and ePUB formats and boasts more than 60 000 titles in its catalogue. The books via Kalahari are dependent on ADE (Adobe Digital Editions) however, making them subject to DRM (Digital Rights Management) by publishers. Basically you’ll be limited to reading your books on ADE compatible devices.

 

The Exclusives catalogue of ebooks looks to be significantly smaller than Kalahari’s at this stage; with a search for “Electronic books” via the advanced search on their site only returning 88 results. They hope to build a catalogue of 60 000 ebooks by the end of the year though.

 

Beyond the ebook battle, the launch of Exclusives.co.za is a great thing for local online shoppers as it provides another online alternative. The site looks good, offers a number of interactive elements such as social networking and user reviews, and its search feature works well.

 

For Fanatics (loyalty card holders), registering on the site is also made easy, as you need only enter your card number and confirm your details, and you can even spend your Fanatics vouchers online. Finally, a number of delivery options are available including door-to-door delivery for a fee (free for orders over R350) and free delivery to your nearest Exclusive Books store.