Bookstores hope to turn a new page

Physical shops are trying to draw more readers in online era, Wang Ru reports.

Bookshops are facing a new challenge from the online market. This is highlighted by statistics, released earlier this month, from Centrin Ecloud, a big data platform for China's publishing industry. The data shows that, in 2019, the average discount for books sold offline was 91.39 percent, while the online equivalent was 63.79 percent. Consequently, books sold online are much cheaper than offline, and online orders are a clear and present danger to the development and existence of bookstores.

"Since the development of physical bookstores continues to be influenced by large discounts offered by online bookstores, physical bookstores have to be innovative," said Zhang Lei, an expert in publishing, while speaking at the 2020 China Bookstore Conference held in Beijing on Jan 8.

The conference, sponsored by the Books and Periodicals Distribution Association of China, Bookdao New Publishing Institute and Time Publishing and Media, was held to explore how to better develop physical bookstores and acknowledge the contribution made by distinctive bookstores.