Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Office, on Thursday visited the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.
Sheikh Khaled toured several exhibition stands at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, as well as the "Reading is Seeing" section of the event, which is dedicated to the fair's Cultural Personality of the Year, Egyptian author Taha Hussein.
Sheikh Khaled also talked to pupils about the importance instilling a love of reading.
The event, which is organised by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, is expected to attract more than 150,000 visitors. About 1,130 international, regional and local publishing houses from about 80 countries are taking part.
The events are also set to feature more than 1,000 speakers from 40 countries. They will exchange cultural views and share literary ideas in several panel discussions, seminars and literary, cultural and academic events.
Germany is the guest of honour at the fair, with a series of 40 events planned to highlight cultural ties between the UAE and Germany.
German writers and thinkers are set to take part in workshops for schools and children.
President Sheikh Mohamed on Tuesday allocated a Dh6 million ($1.6m) grant to purchase books and educational materials from the fair, which runs until May 29.
The books will be distributed to school libraries across the UAE to support the publishing and education sectors.
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What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
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