We’ve been given credits to shop online … for books again!

Yipeedeedoo!

The Kao kids and I have been really thrilled these days – like who’s going to say no to more books? Hurhurhur.

This time, we’ve been given the opportunity to shop here:

NoQ boasts of having 14 million titles at up to 50% off

The NoQ Store (= No Queue, as in, don’t have to queue, no need to queue) is part of the Times Publishing Group, one of the most reputable names in publishing, printing, distribution and retail in the Asia-Pacific. At NoQ, we are talking about browsing at an online book store with millions of titles at really low prices. I couldn’t wait to as I was told to expect a solid variety of books from the Children’s Section spanning across different genres ranging from fiction to education and general knowledge.

The opportunity to shop and review NoQ came at a perfect time –  we’ve just finished reading the entire Mr Men Collection, and are at the point of doing repeats. I’ve also been searching high and low for the complete Little Miss Complete Collection so we don’t have to do repeats of Mr Men at tuck-ins. The kids are such huge fans of Roger Hargreaves’ characters that they can’t get past one night without meeting one of them for their bedtime story. I went to the major bookstores to hunt for the Little Miss box set but the search was usually futile at the heartland malls. I did, however, find the complete set at the Popular bookstore at Bras Basah and of course, online at Amazon, but the prices were so ridiculous I could feel my pockets burning up before I could even place an order.

The kids love Mr Men and can’t wait to meet one every night

So.

What better way than to put NoQ to the test.

If you have Little Miss at a bargain, I’d be very impressed, NoQ.

So I went to NoQ, clicked on Books – Special Feature – Box Sets for Kids and crossed my fingers.

Found it! Cheaper by so much!

Yipeedeedoo! *doing the happy dance*

I would have loved to add to my shopping cart the Peter Rabbit Library, Dear Zoo Library, Guess How Much I Love You Library, Magic School Bus Box Set which I found under Special Features / Box Sets for Kids – if only there wasn’t a budget constraint! These are wonderful classics to be introducing to the kids, and ugh! Guess I would have to save up some more for those!

There was indeed a dizzying array of books at NoQ to look at and within each genre and section you would find a couple of sub-categories that would certainly make any book lover hyperventilate at the sheer number of available titles to choose from. Having to navigate around can be pretty daunting given the extensively huge number of titles, not to mention so many bargain books to check out for as low as SGD$3. NoQ also highlights their bestsellers on the right sidebar so you know what everyone else is buying, as well as shout out their latest promotional offers big and loud right on its home page.

My only complaint was that the prices can sometimes be adjusted upwards instead of down. You kinda expect prices to be slashed more often than they are increased like all other book stores – but I found the Little Miss Complete Collection to have experienced a price hike after I ordered mine at SGD$87.21. It’s now going for $142.03, which is great news for me who ordered but probably not that great a bargain for someone else searching high and low for the same thing and not wanting to leave a hole in the pocket. I actually wrote in to ask them why, and the folks at NoQ say that because they draw their prices directly from suppliers, book prices at NoQ get adjusted automatically when suppliers adjust prices on their end.

Bummer. It’s not so nice to see something on your wishlist get more expensive the next day, eh. I was so very fortunate indeed to have gotten the Little Miss Complete Collection at 50% off. Just glad I clicked on it fast and paid up when it was such a bargain.

That said, you can wait for their promotional offers like storewide discounts or check out the Bargain Section periodically to get the best book deals. Afterall, if you look at the deals they offer, most books are slashed to almost half their original price. For their wide selection of books of every genre in book-dom, and for letting me find the Little Miss people my kids have been wanting so much to meet at bedtime – and at a steal – I am still going to be adding NoQ to my list of favourite haunts to hang out online.

Just for Motherkao’s readers!

If you like what you see at NoQ and are going to be buying some books, get 15% off all purchases made via the NoQ Store website and Mobile App by entering the promotional code “Motherkao” under the “Voucher & Promotion Code” tab during checkout.

This promotion is valid till 30 April 2014 and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers and discounts. Only one voucher code per transaction and not applicable to shipping and tax charges.

And I’m giving away one $20 gift voucher on the blog, courtesy of NoQ Store!

If you’d like to win a $20 NoQ gift voucher, simple leave me a comment here telling me what’s one thing you like to have from NoQ Store. Do also remember to leave your email address so the folks at NoQ can email you if you win.

Giveaway ends 6 March 2014.

And the winner is…

Congrats, Tiffany! I hope Jamie Oliver would give you lots of inspiration to create healthy quick meals for your family!

Disclosure: The kind folks from NoQ gave us $60 worth of credits to shop. Topping up the balance for the box set from pocket of mine. All opinions here are also mine. 

UPDATE as of 2015: NoQ has since closed down and ceased operations.