"Now I make everything except selling books." An industry insider sighed.
Recently, the net red bookstore Yanji was exposed to be caught in the storm of closing stores, after closing some stores in Beijing, Chengdu and Xi'an, and then closed a number of stores in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and the strategic contraction of Yanji has undoubtedly aroused the attention of the society to physical bookstores.
It is true that the revenue model of internet celebrity bookstores should not be limited to "appearance", under the impact of the Internet, traditional bookstores are eclipsed, and attracting customers with Internet marketing seems to have become the trend of the times, but will this be the end of the transformation of bookstores?
To this end, the reporter visited several Internet celebrity bookstores in Beijing to explore the survival and transformation of Internet celebrity bookstores under the collision of tradition and cutting-edge.
Sisyphus Bookstore and Consumer Area.
The originator of the internet celebrity bookstore
The Sisyphus behind the tide
"Before I joined Sisyphus, my dream was to go back to my hometown and open a bookstore. I left my job six months later and that idea changed. Kiki, a former employee of Sisyphus Bookstore, told a reporter from China City Daily: "Now the physical bookstore, even if it is profitable on the book, the revenue can see the ceiling." I have to admit that the physical bookstore industry is on the decline. ”
The reporter went to the Sisyphus Bookstore to visit, and the shelves were carefully selected best-selling books, sometimes the movie of the same name was being screened, "Chosin Lake", and there were also bookstore evergreens such as "White Night". In addition, sample books of online literature have also been turned over very old. According to the clerk, the best-selling books in bookstores are management and literature, and picture books popular with children also sell well. Cultural and creative products such as blind boxes, hand accounts, and music boxes are also a major source of income.
Sisyphus Vector Coffee and Bookstore business is divided by glass windows, decorated with hanging paintings, green plants, etc., like a shop within a store. According to reports, customers want to read, can spend in the coffee shop, the price of drinks is about 30-40 yuan.
"The store's revenue is divided into three blocks, stored value cards, books and cultural creation. Stored value cards belong to the category of pre-consumption, and the revenue of coffee shops is calculated separately, and the essence still relies on bookstore solicitation. Many customers need a quiet working and learning environment, and the cultural scene provided by the bookstore is just satisfied. Kiki said that the location of Sisyphus Bookstore is more inclined to places with larger crowds, which is in line with the needs of shopping malls to build diversified consumption scenes. In addition, the bookstore will also set up scenes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, New Year and other festivals, and recommend products for new festivals and seasonal times to create an immersive atmosphere.
"I came to the bookstore to read, to work, to enjoy being alone, it's more like a shared space where everyone is doing their own thing." Customer Mr. Lee, who is working on a report for the company, said: "Provide network, coffee and warmth, and I can spend the whole day here." ”
Books do not account for the majority of the revenue of many bookstores now, but does this mean that the physical book industry will die?
In the face of reporters' questions, Kiki believes that this is not the case. "I met a very old blue-collar worker who often came to the bookstore to enjoy the feeling of picking books by himself. Although the impact of the network is very large, there are still fixed groups of people who are the audience of bookstores, and they choose to buy books in bookstores, more for the experience and atmosphere. ”
Kiki herself is also a literary and art lover, she can not help but sigh: "Even if the purchase of books can be solved online with fingers, but the cultural scene is irreplaceable, the physical bookstore must adapt to the transformation of the market, the development of cultural and creative products and beverage business, but that is also for the multi-legged walk, the cultural pillar of the bookstore is always the book, this will not change." But she also said that Sisyphus, like many brick-and-mortar bookstores, has opened up online business.
At six o'clock in the evening, the traffic in the store was still not much. There is a reading experience space specially created for children aged 0-12, several mothers have taken their children to read picture books, and young people are still sitting in the coffee shop reading and learning.
Compared to the hustle and bustle of shopping malls, the bookstore across the wall is quiet.
The fusion of cultural scenes inside the one-way space.
One-way space
The poetic dwelling of niche literature
Stepping into the door of the one-way space, this month's new book express bookshelf, the books related to the metaverse that are hotly discussed nowadays are very eye-catching.
Bookshelves are placed against the wall, which is biased towards the humanities and social sciences such as film, literature and art, economy, and history. On the shelves are book recommendations, such as "Nameless Town" and "Dunes", which focus on the humanities. The bookstore center displays cultural and creative products, including blind boxes, notebooks, pens, aromatherapy and canvas bags.
Unlike Sisyphus Bookstore, the coffee bar counter in the one-way space is not significantly separated from the bookstore area, and the bookstore, cultural creation and consumption area are collaged in the common space. There is a sign on the table in the consumption area, which reads "Order to enter the seat, take the book, one book at a time", and the reporter bought a cup of coffee to sit in, and the price was more moderate.
"One-way space originated in 2005, started out because of celebrity culture, founded by Xu Zhiyuan, Yu Wei, Zhang Fan and several other young media people, and later became bigger and bigger." Mr. Du, a regular bookstore guest, said that the reason why he came to the one-way space was largely because of the cultural salon.
According to the clerk, the age group of regular customers in the one-way space is concentrated in the age group of more than 20 years old, most of them are urban white-collar workers, there are fewer children-related products, and the positioning is more niche and literary. The store sometimes holds offline cultural salons, and writers who sign contracts with bookstores will also come to bookstores to hold signing activities, and even the writers themselves are regular customers of bookstores, and have an offline "unexpected encounter" with readers.
"Coffee culture is already ingrained in the cultural scene of bookstores, which is more like a cultural grafting." Mr. Du said bluntly, "Coffee culture is an imported product, and the purchase of coffee is actually equivalent to paying to enjoy the cultural space, while the cultural scene of the bookstore is actually a collage of multiple cultures, intended to provide a living and reading experience." ”
Around three o'clock in the afternoon, the shop was almost full, and the business at the coffee bar was much better. Communicating customers keep their voices down so they don't seem noisy. There are also more people watching cultural creations on the shelf, including many young men and women who come to take pictures and punch cards.
Bookstore is a positioning of cultural life, physical bookstore enthusiast Xiao Lu told reporters: "My biggest problem now is how to find coordinates in life. The current pace of urban life is too fast, people are more desperate, the pursuit of money and materials, let me feel very lonely, and the cultural atmosphere provided by the bookstore accurately sniper my spiritual needs, which is not replaced by online book shopping. ”
"Internet celebrity bookstores are always 'success is also Xiao He, defeat is also Xiao He', relying on 'face value' marketing, attracting more customers to use the bookstore as a landmark for taking photos and punching cards, after the big wave of sand, I don't know how many people can become die-hards." Mr. Du said.
Having a loyal fan group doesn't mean sitting back and relaxing. In February 2020, the crowdfunding plan of the one-way space once again aroused the society's attention to the survival of the physical bookstore. After more than a year, where the physical bookstore is going is still a knot that is difficult to unravel in the post-epidemic era.
Readers of books in Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore.
Shanghai Sanlian
A breakthrough in the digital age
"Shanghai Sanlian was originally a publishing house, and now we go to the market to cooperate with brands to promote classical crafts, such as paper carved lamps, fans, tea sets, etc., which can be purchased." The clerk introduced the cultural and creative goods in the store to the reporter.
"Every bookstore's cultural scene is different." Kiki said that cultural creativity has gradually moved from a niche to the public, and the age span of positioning is very large, and the selection of products can reflect the cultural positioning of bookstores to a certain extent.
Obviously, the positioning of the triptych lies in the national style. The bookstore layout is open, the cultural creation and bookshelves are staggered, and the serious retro atmosphere comes to the face, creating a strong sense of immersion.
"Most of the customers in our bookstore are adults, and there are many kinds of books, covering literature, social sciences, economic management, etc." The clerk told reporters that the current market is like this, not only selling books, how to let customers buy some cultural creations when reading books, but also the proposition that Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore cannot avoid when it follows the market trend for transformation.
The reporter observed that some customers who select books in bookstores will first read the cover of the book, and then look at the sample book catalog, if they are interested, they will use their mobile phones to take pictures of the book cover, or search for the book on the Internet and add it to the shopping cart.
"It's a good feeling to pick books in offline bookstores, but the discounts online are even greater." Xiao Wu, who also has online book buying habits, said, "I go to the Internet celebrity bookstore more to take photos and punch cards to send circles of friends, because bookstores are open in the mall, and it is very heavy and inconvenient to carry books when shopping and eating." So I prefer to pick good offline and then buy online, not only delivered to home, but also cheap and fast. ”
According to the book industry data and information service professional provider "open volume" data show that in 2020, affected by the epidemic, the proportion of online channels will further increase, reaching 79%, and in 2020, the discount on online channels will be 40%, and the discount on the price of physical bookstore channels will be 90%, and there is a big difference between the two channels. From the perspective of different channels, the online store channel increased by 7.27% year-on-year, and the scale of the code ocean was 76.72 billion yuan; the physical store channel was significantly affected by the epidemic, and the decline was further expanded, down 33.8% year-on-year, and the size of the code ocean was 20.36 billion yuan.
The impact online goes far beyond shopping behavior. Kiki is worried about this, "Behind the difficulties in the transformation of traditional bookstores is the impact of physical books on online fragmented reading, including the deconstruction of reading itself in the video era. Short video platforms often have a few minutes to take you to see a video of a book, many people have absorbed such second-hand knowledge, do not want to buy books to see. In fact, it is also deconstructing knowledge itself. Physical books are impacted, and naturally affect bookstores as carriers. ”
According to the "2020-2021 China Physical Bookstore Industry Report", in 2020, 4061 new bookstores and 1573 bookstores were closed in China, and the number of new openings was 2.6 times that of the number of closures. It is gratifying that the physical bookstore industry still has a steady stream of new blood pouring in, constantly exploring the direction of physical bookstores.
In the face of the double contradiction between the wave of digitalization and the paper carrier, is there any new growth point? Today's bookstore industry is waiting for new answers from the market.
Open book release: Online and offline physical book discounts in 2020.
The "Triptych Life Weekly", which fills the entire wall, glimpses the golden age of the paper media.
Where should bookstores go?
According to the monitoring data of the book and publishing industry in 2020 released by the open volume, the scale of China's book retail market in 2020 showed negative growth for the first time, down 5.08% year-on-year, and the scale of code ocean was 97.08 billion yuan. Under the impact of the wave of store closures, the expansion of the territory of physical bookstores has indeed reached the time to pour "cold water".
And does this mean that physical bookstores are in decline? In fact, after the water recedes, bookstores with "appearance" and "net red" as selling points need to find new growth points and turn "traffic" into actual revenue. Beneath the ice of cultural consumption, there are still many areas where demand has not been explored.
"Some of the bookstores I've been to have a small area do some lectures, salons, craft areas, or photography exhibitions." Bookstore enthusiast Xiao Lu said that she hopes that the bookstore will become a hub for avant-garde culture, be able to socialize, meet more friends, and carry out the function of cultural places and public spaces.
"Some groups are very niche, but their purchasing power is very strong, such as art, foreign languages, photography, etc., many bookstores have changed from 'big and complete' to 'small and fine', and the most important thing is to find their own positioning." Kiki said with a smile, "Now that the Internet era has arrived, small boutique bookstores can also not be opened in the mall, saving rent, but also relying on circle culture and network to promote, accurately positioning niche consumer groups with higher willingness to pay." ”
Net red bookstores are waking up from the big dream of expanding their territory in 2018, looking for a way to integrate non-books and book formats. The reporter saw that PAGEONE Bookstore not only has a vinyl area, but also recently held a manuscript exhibition of Yu Hua's "Alive" to drive the bookstore traffic with cultural celebrities. Yan Ji, who was deeply trapped in the tide of store closures, was shrinking strategically and stopped the pace of expansion. Fangsuo uses the Internet to increase the stickiness of the customer base, and opens up "online assistants" in different fields such as books and magazines, life aesthetics, and activity sharing, driving the operation of various vertical fields.
And how should the net red bookstore transform in the future? How to retain the potential customer base of "because of the appearance value", all this is left to the market and time to think.
The book wall of the PAGEONE bookstore.
Reporter: Fang Ziwei Photo/Text