Why are physical bookstores in crisis one after another? Where is the way to survive?

Promote price legislation to take a specific book route to highlight the attributes of public services

"Rescue" a brick-and-mortar bookstore in crisis

The last day of 2021 is the day when the lease of Beijing Jagged Bookstore expires. On December 27, the day after the bookstore officially closed, the owner Hu Jie packed the last 3,000 books in the store and sent them home. "Some peers wanted to help receive inventory, I gave some copies, the rest were left, more than 80 boxes, just as if it were private." Hu Jie said.

The closure of jagged bookstores is also a microcosm of the plight of the physical bookstore industry. Well-known physical bookstores such as Wuhan Baicaoyuan Bookstore, Beijing Shengshiqing Bookstore, and Shanghai Fudan Used Bookstore will close their doors in 2021. Chain bookstores have been exposed to a series of problems such as store closures, unpaid wages, and becoming executors, which have made the crisis of physical bookstores more known.

"At the end of 2019 we did a book of the 2020 Bookstore Calendar. This year, almost a third of the 366 bookstores selected that year are gone. Sun Qian, founder of the bookstore industry consulting service agency "Shumeng", said.

Why are physical bookstores in crisis one after another? At a time when access to books is becoming more and more abundant, what opportunities are there for physical bookstores? Under the market wash, the entrepreneurs of physical bookstores are exploring new ways to survive.

"Batch zero upside down": the "price war" with no chance of winning

Book sales are the main business of brick-and-mortar bookstores.

According to the results of the 18th National Reading Survey, the per capita reading volume of paper books by adult citizens in mainland China in 2020 is 4.7, and 11.6% of adult citizens read 10 or more paper books per year.

Yang Yue, a post-90s girl, belongs to one of the 11.6%, "Reading more than a dozen books a year is not a problem, I only recognize paper books, the feel is good, and it is more immersive to read." Due to price factors, all the new paper books added by Yang Yue in recent years have been purchased from the e-commerce platform.

According to the "2021 Book Retail Market Report", within the sampling range of more than 18,000 bookstores online and offline, the scale of the mainland book retail market in 2021 will be 98.68 billion yuan, of which the online channel code ocean scale such as platform online stores, short video platforms, and large self-operated online stores will account for nearly 80%.

The large discount of books is the main advantage of online channels. The report data shows that in 2021, the discount of online store channels will be further increased, and the difference between online and offline discounts will be more obvious, with a difference of 31 percentage points.

The difference in online and offline book prices makes physical bookstore practitioners feel "under pressure".

Hong Xia, director of the Humanistic Archaeology Bookstore, is quite touched by this, "After all, the physical bookstore is a small business, and it is really impossible to pay rent and hire labor, and it is really impossible to fight with the price online." Moreover, even some publishing houses have opened their own online stores for direct sales, and the price of books after discount is lower than the price of our books, and bookstores have indeed been impacted. ”

Hu Jie made a more intuitive comparison, "The physical bookstore uses a 56% discount or even a 30% discount to enter the book, and then sell it at 89% off, and the same book can be 45% off in other channels, so why should the reader spend more money to buy from the physical bookstore?" ”

The phenomenon that the wholesale price of books entered by physical bookstores is higher than the retail price of a single book purchased online by readers is known in the publishing industry as "batch zero upside down". In the face of price differences, entering books directly from online channels has become a pragmatic choice for some physical bookstore practitioners. "Because the amount of books entered was small, after establishing contact with the distribution staff of the publishing house and the publishing company, they also suggested that I should go directly to the online store to enter the book." Hu Jie said.

However, even if books are imported from online channels, physical bookstores only relatively reduce losses, still cannot give more competitive retail prices, and may face the risk of pressure.

It is worth noting that the price difference of books in different channels has attracted the attention of government agencies. The State Press and Publication Administration recently issued the "Development Plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan period of the publishing industry", which clearly put forward "strengthening the supervision and management of publication prices, promoting book price legislation, effectively stopping the vicious 'price war' of online and offline publication sales, and creating a healthy and orderly market environment.".

Can pushing book price legislation "save" brick-and-mortar bookstores in crisis?

The "self-help" of the brick-and-mortar store: back to the book itself

In the face of the "overwhelming" price advantage of online channels, physical bookstores are also "self-help".

The Humanistic Archaeology Bookstore, which has been open for 10 years and has achieved profitability by selling books alone, has explored a path in the direction of deepening professional books.

Walking into the Humanistic Archaeology Bookstore located on Sanhuqiao South Road in Haidian District, Beijing, the ceiling-high shelves are densely lined with professional books on archaeology and literature, and there is no shortage of "tomes" such as "A Hundred Years of Chinese Archaeology". There are also many cartons stacked on the floor of the bookstore, ranging from new books purchased from various publishing houses that have not yet been shelved, as well as books that will be sent to archaeological departments, museums and research institutions of universities at home and abroad.

"When the bookstore first opened, in order to attract readers, we thought of a 'stupid trick': when we saw that the invoice was a certain archaeological unit, we put a book list written by the bookstore itself in a cardboard box, and some units would directly check out the books they wanted to buy on it after receiving the book list, and then take pictures and send them to us, so they slowly accumulated a lot of old customers, the bookstore now has an annual revenue of nearly 5 million yuan, and various archaeological institutions book about 3 million yuan." Hong Xia said.

According to Hong Xia, in addition to institutional book subscription fees, the bookstore has nearly 2 million yuan of revenue from online stores and physical stores retail. After deducting the cost of books, rent and manpower expenses, the bookstore can make a profit of 200,000 yuan a year, and most of the profits will be used to buy books.

The audience of archaeology and cultural books is relatively fixed, and in the case of book prices that do not have advantages, in order to retain customers, Hong Xia and her colleagues have come up with two strategies to cope with the impact of online channels.

"One is 'grab the new', a new book in the industry, we know that after we will strive to get the new book at the first time, grab the sale before the online store; the second is 'good books to buy early', the circulation of professional books is small, the reprint is small, many books are out of print in a few years, it is difficult to buy on the Internet, therefore, when encountering sales and good reputation of the book, the bookstore must save more, the price of the book will not be too excessive, and some inventory costs can be added on the basis of the original price." Hong Xia said.

Physical bookstores such as humanistic archaeology bookstores that focus on a certain field can often attract long-term attention and continuous purchases from readers in the field with a complete and profound book reserve.

Returning to the book itself, selling specific books that are difficult to bid on through online channels is also a strategy for many physical bookstores to "save themselves". Recently, such as the Yonghe Bookstore, the Codeword Bookstore launched the writer's signature book, and the Buyi Ancient Book Company focused on ancient books, and some progress has been made.

However, bookstores that choose this path must also be prepared to suffer hardships.

Hu Jie has tried to sell old books, but "the practice is not expected to go smoothly", "looking for valuable old books, is a very energy-consuming thing, go to the publishing house and the mid-market supplier warehouse, turn over thousands of books to find a few valuable books." Recycling second-hand books from readers is also very unstable, the book is heavy, the recycling freight is expensive, whether I pay or the reader pays is a big expense, even accounting for half of the profit."

"Taking a specific book route is a great test of the bookstore manager's selection vision and resource integration ability, and the source of books is not stable enough, or it is necessary to operate cautiously." Sun Qian said.

Staying in the "internal power": making emotional connections

Visiting more "net red bookstores", Yang Yue has become accustomed to "taking photos and leaving", "In addition to taking photos and punching cards, I really don't know what else to do in physical bookstores, books are the original price of 'big road goods', cultural creation is not original, want to spend money do not know what to buy, if only for a cup of coffee, then there are too many places to choose."

The integration of cultural and creative, catering and other consumption formats, emphasizing the sense of design and spatial experiential, the physical bookstore industry in the Third Pole Bookstore, Fengjinsong Bookstore, Photosynthesis Study and other traditional bookstores have closed the background, in order to drain the transformation and upgrading path, but the rising attention, customer flow can retain customers, depends on the "internal strength" of each bookstore.

In Sun Qian's view, the "net red bookstore" has reached a turning point, "'underwater bookstore' such a light design, close to the nature of the new form began to appear, indicating that the 'net red style' is also constantly changing, even if the physical bookstore in the decoration design more investment, may not be able to receive long-term attention." To open a bookstore, it is still necessary to establish an emotional connection with consumers in order to go steadily."

When the MPK Vinyl Bookstore was created in Huilongguan, Beijing in 2020, the manager Jin Xianghong planned to build a "music study at the doorstep", "I have lived in the 'Huitian' area for more than ten years, and I also want to do something for the community, so that the neighbors have a place to read, study and listen to music."

The positioning of the bookstore was clarified, and in terms of decoration and space layout, Jin Xianghong chose a concise route.

"Most of the funds are used in books, bookshelves, tables and chairs, these necessities, the design and decoration of the study room, the record area, and the coffee bar are also practical, like all the records in the record area can be auditioned on the vinyl record player, and the reading area has also purchased a child seat, I hope that everyone can really enjoy this space, not just when it is a piece of scenery, look at it." Jin Xianghong said.

MPK Vinyl Bookstore adopts a membership system, members can borrow books, records, free use of self-study rooms, participate in reading and music activities held by the bookstore, and there will be discounts at coffee bars. Every month, Jin Xianghong will count the books that everyone wants to read in the member group and add them regularly.

"Members basically live nearby, when they have time, they will come to the bookstore to sit down, take one or two books, or a few records when they leave, we do not expect the bookstore to cover many people, as long as it can serve the residents of these communities around, it can be, although the bookstore is not profitable, but I believe this model can continue." Jin Xianghong said.

Pavilion-store union: Highlight the attributes of public services

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publications recently announced the list of physical bookstore support projects in Beijing in 2021, and a total of 272 physical bookstores have received project funding support. The Humanities archaeology bookstore and the MPK vinyl bookstore were selected.

"With such a sum of money, my heart is particularly solid, I have the confidence to say to the publisher, I want 30 sets of books that sell well, even if the price of this book is one or two thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan, I have a bottom in my heart." Hong Xia said.

With the "bottom line", Hong Xia plans to expand the bookstore and increase the reading space of books, "Books can only reflect their value if they are constantly read by people, and the good books we 'hide' in the warehouse should also be seen." ”

In a sense, the Humanistic Archaeology Bookstore has also experienced a process of "being seen". In early December 2021, an article titled "After 10 Years, Why Can This "Unpopular" Archaeological Bookstore Survive" made the alley where the bookstore is located lively, and the bookstore also changed its business hours from 6 days a week to a full week.

Changes in the data are more intuitive. According to Hong Xia, the turnover of physical stores reached nearly 90,000 yuan in December last year, "which is equivalent to the income of physical stores for most of the year, and even the attention of public accounts has increased by nearly 10,000 people."

In an era when book sales are becoming more and more online, why can physical bookstores still touch the hearts of the public?

Publicity is an important reason. Compared with other business forms, physical bookstores can lead reading and disseminate culture, and have strong public cultural service attributes.

As early as 2016, the "Guiding Opinions on Supporting the Development of Physical Bookstores" jointly issued by 11 departments clearly pointed out: "Encourage physical bookstores to actively participate in public cultural services", "incorporate the construction of physical bookstores into the national economic and social development plan", "reserve business premises for physical bookstores in new community commercial and comprehensive service facilities in cities and towns".

Since then, the support policies successively introduced by various localities have made detailed provisions for physical bookstores to play a public service attribute.

Under the support of policies, with the help of social service functions, innovation and change have become the transformation of many physical bookstores. For example, Shanghai Dayin Bookstore has undertaken the operation of 6 libraries in Shanghai, and set up a late-night study on the first floor of Fu Lei Library, and physical bookstores such as Qingyuan Bookstore and Gengshu Bookstore are also exploring the model of "library-store alliance" with libraries.

The story of the physical bookstore continues.

(Source: China Youth Daily)