On the eve of "World Book Day", on April 21, the seventh season of "Reading Month" kicked off as scheduled and lasted for one month. It's time for the reader to "assault the book" again.
After the precipitation of the previous six quarters, this season's reading month activities deepened the knowledge inclusion strategy, invited more than 1,000 book stores on the platform to participate, and superimposed official subsidies with a reading fund of 100 million yuan, and directly supplemented tens of thousands of book products at the source for the first time.
At the same time, this season's reading month activities also cooperate with major publishing houses to select the best of the best, select 1,000 classic works, and directly subsidize 5 million copies, including classic books by well-known writers at home and abroad, books selected from the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mao Dun Literature Prize, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize and other awards, books that dominated the list in many annual lists last year, and books on social science and philosophy that explain the laws of social operation.
"Duoduo Reading Month" is a large-scale knowledge inclusion action launched by Pinduoduo in April 2021, uniting authoritative publishing houses and book publishing companies in China to establish a reading fund of 100 million yuan to subsidize high-quality and classic books and provide consumers with affordable and genuine books. In the past three years, "Reading Month" has gradually grown into a major IP event in the domestic book market. During the event, readers can participate by searching for "Duoduo Reading Month" on Pinduoduo.
Nowadays, "Reading Month" has become an important way for more and more people to consume books, and some people even include it in their annual consumption budget in advance. "The focus of reading for all is on the whole people, and we hope to continue to increase the breadth and depth of subsidies for high-quality book products, so that more people can enjoy the benefits of universal knowledge. "We will continue to work hard to build an efficient and transparent supply chain system for genuine books, and promote mutual benefit and win-win results for consumers and publishers." ”
For the first time, the number of subsidized booksellers exceeded 1,000
From the participation of hundreds of publishing houses and book companies every quarter to the participation of thousands of book companies this season, this is one of the biggest highlights of this reading month.
This season's Reading Month has selected the "Spring Book List" for the majority of consumers, including classic books by well-known domestic and foreign authors, such as Camus's "The Plague", books selected from the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mao Dun Prize, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize and other awards, such as Kafka's "Trial", "Flowers", which was popular due to the popularity of TV dramas, and "Chip Wars" and "Three Questions on Man" and other social science and philosophy books.
This year is the first time in many years that Boku Books has participated in the Reading Month event. Boku.com is a well-known comprehensive book sales service provider in China, and has opened a flagship store in Pinduoduo for 4 years, and the most popular book categories among platform consumers are literary novels and learning books. In this "debut" of the reading month, they prepared classic literature and social science books such as Kafka's "Trial", Douban's high-scoring economic theory book "General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money", and Pink Floyd's biography "The Endless River".
"The influence of the 'Reading Month' continues to grow, and we are very willing to participate. "It is very valuable and meaningful, it helps to raise the attention of the whole society to reading, and it is also an important opportunity for us to show ourselves and promote reading." ”
Since Shanghai Century Publishing Group settled in Pinduoduo in 2021, book categories such as literature, art and social sciences, culture and education, and ancient books have been widely welcomed by platform users. Today, they have participated in five seasons of Reading Month and are regular visitors to Reading Month.
"The bi-annual 'Reading Month' campaign is a great help to our store's book sales, and both seasons are the peak sales period of the store. Many of the books recommended by the event have been sought after by readers, and sales have increased a lot compared to usual. For example, books such as "The Brothers Karamazov", "Staying in the Matter", "Dictionary of Tang Poetry Appreciation", "Three Hundred Years of the Civil War", and "Re-Walking: Searching for the Southwest Associated University on Roads, Rivers and Post Roads" sold more than 5,000 copies during the last reading month. The person in charge of the store of Shanghai Century Publishing Group said.
In the face of many new players in this season's Reading Month, the above-mentioned person in charge believes that it is a new challenge. This season, they brought readers excellent works in the categories of art, history, and social sciences, such as "Tales of the City of London", "A Good Book Can Be Read for a Life", "The Beauty Made in Japan", and "Dunhuang Picture Scroll".
In order to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and promote the sustainable development of the affordable and genuine book market, the "Reading Month" has been held for six consecutive seasons since the launch of the first quarter of the event in April 2021. During this period, Pinduoduo cooperated with hundreds of authoritative publishing houses and book publishing companies such as Peking University Press, Unread Books, Commercial Press, Tiandi Press, Writers Publishing House, CITIC Press, Guomai, and Ideal Country, and subsidized more than 6,000 kinds of high-quality books and more than 2,600 copies of high-quality books.
"Good service + more affordable" helps upgrade book consumption
Driven by the seventh quarter of the "Duoduo Reading Month", the consumption of Pinduoduo book categories has maintained rapid growth over the past three years, more high-quality book products have been seen and loved by consumers, and book lovers have also reaped more benefits.
"In recent years, readers of all ages on the platform have been enthusiastic about buying books, and user needs have shown a trend of personalization and diversification. Books that require immersive reading, such as social science and management, art philosophy, literary novels, and historical biographies, are very popular, and the sales of functional and practical books such as self-improvement, examination and teaching aids, and health care are also booming. The person in charge of the "Reading Month" project said.
But that's not enough. According to the 20th National Reading Survey Report, the comprehensive reading rate of adult citizens in mainland China in 2022 was 81.8%, and the per capita reading of paper books was 4.78, of which 11.14 books were read per capita for minors aged 0 to 17. 45.5% of adult citizens tend to "take a paper book and read", while more than 60% of citizens are "dissatisfied" or "average" with their reading this year.
According to the observation of the above-mentioned person in charge, the book consumption of the platform is showing more demand for improvement and upgrading. For example, some classic literature, social science, and biographical works are perennially hot, among which hardcover editions and signed editions have become consumption highlights. At the same time, the sales of pop-up books, audio books, especially children's favorite reading sets, have increased significantly. "Some 'good-looking' books have even begun to be sought after by young consumers as home products. ”
In line with the principle of "what consumers need, the platform will subsidize", this reading month activity will expand the variety of subsidized book products from more than 1,000 to tens of thousands, covering literature, history, philosophy, education, children, economy, management, business, art, science popularization and other fields, to meet the different needs of more regions and more levels of people, and strive for a wider range of inclusiveness.
In addition to providing more affordable, the "Reading Month" also continues to improve book services, so that the majority of book lovers dare to consume and are willing to spend. At present, the book products participating in the reading month all have the "buy with peace of mind and return with your heart" service of the 10 billion subsidized channel as a standard configuration. This means that book buyers will automatically obtain the "quality insurance" provided by the platform, and also enjoy services such as free shipping, compensation for expensive purchases, and 48-hour delivery. For problems such as the wear and tear of the book corners during the transportation of books, the platform bookseller will also deal with partial refunds or returns and refunds according to the actual situation as soon as possible.
In addition, in July last year, Pinduoduo began to implement the free express delivery service into the village in Xinjiang, further shortening the distance between the terminal distribution network and consumers to within 2 kilometers, and compressing the time limit for signing to 24 hours. Books are one of the key categories covered by Xinjiang's free mail service into villages. Thanks to this, in March this year, the number of book orders in Xinjiang exceeded 1 million, a year-on-year increase of about 80%. During this season's reading month, the Xinjiang regions covered by the free shipping service can also enjoy the same knowledge and courtesy as the "free shipping areas" such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.
"No one should be left behind in reading. Pinduoduo connects the widest range of readers and booksellers, and by increasing subsidies and improving the supporting service mechanism, 'Duoduo Reading Month' hopes to help books sink down, so that consumers can buy cheap and assured goods, and also let valuable books get better exposure, promote more affordable and genuine good books on the shelves, and practice national reading." The person in charge of the "Reading Month" project said.