Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 22 (Xinhua) -- In the era of digital reading, how can physical bookstores break through?
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Shi Jingnan, Sun Liping, and Bai Jiali
In the digital era, brick-and-mortar bookstores are facing great challenges under the dual background of people's changing reading habits and online e-commerce seizing the book retail market.
Some bookstores stick to their roots, while others quietly transform. Between closure and reopening, between change and unchanged, the independent value of physical bookstores has also been re-examined.
On March 15, tourists visited the Pioneer Jianhu Bookstore, which was renovated from a waterworks. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Weng Xinyang
Faced with multiple dilemmas
The 20th National Reading Survey found that the tendency of mainland adults to read digitally has been further enhanced, and mobile reading has become the main form. In the context of the preference for "digital reading" over "paper reading", less than half of the adult citizens choose to "take a paper book to read".
On a Q&A community, under a post of "Why don't people choose to read paper books", some netizens replied: "Take the subway, crowd the bus, e-books can be read at any time", and some netizens said frankly: "I just want to watch short videos when I get home from work, and I can't remember to read a book at all."
In addition to the change of reading habits, the market sales of physical bookstores have also been greatly impacted by online e-commerce.
Data shows that in the past year, short video e-commerce has become the second largest book sales channel after platform e-commerce, and the market share of physical bookstores has further dropped to 11.93%, accounting for just over 1 percent. Sanshi, a senior industry insider, believes that the low-price live broadcast model has a huge impact on the sales of physical bookstores. Some industry insiders said that the price of online books is about 20% lower than the average offline.
In addition, it is unavoidable that some bookstores cannot meet the needs of today's consumers in terms of book types, service quality and environment.
A person in charge of a physical bookstore in Tianjin said that the operating costs of physical bookstores such as rent are high, and they often rely on the "book + X" operation model, and the introduction of coffee, cultural and creative products, light catering, etc. can barely break even. ”
Some readers told reporters that when they took their children to the bookstore to choose books, they found that the books were "uneven", and there were even books that were not suitable for children to read in the children's book area.
What is the path to transformation?
In recent years, brick-and-mortar bookstores have undergone an unprecedented transformation.
Ai Limin, chairman of the China Book Publishing Industry Association, told reporters that the current transformation of physical bookstores presents "four major changes" - from simply selling books to providing reading services, from stores to reading spaces, from offline to online and offline integrated development, and from single operation to diversified operation.
On April 21, two children communicated in Xinhua Bookstore in Tengzhou City, Shandong Province. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Li Zhijun)
Sun Qian, the initiator of the National Physical Bookstore Alliance Program "Book Meng", said that physical bookstores can help readers find their favorite books more conveniently, and can also become a platform for making friends and exchanging ideas, with the advantage of creating high-quality offline social networking.
Shen Hanzhang, a student majoring in architectural design at Tongji University, said that many bookstores now have beautiful spaces and personalities, rich activities and value-for-money experiences.
In the past two years, some readers have begun to return to brick-and-mortar bookstores. "In the offline scenario, the contact between products and services and consumers is direct. Sanshi said that physical bookstores are reading and social spaces that connect people and people, people and books, people and authors, and people and activities, which cannot be given by virtual cyberspace.
The 2024 China Bookstore Conference held in January this year will be held with the theme of "Innovation, Reshaping the Value of Bookstores", encouraging bookstores to innovate management, services and ideas. Sun Qian said that the business form of bookstores is changing from "goods-oriented" to "field-oriented" and then to "people-oriented".
On Changle Road, which has a strong literary and artistic atmosphere in Shanghai, Duoyun Academy Drama Store has become a "paradise club" for theater fans. Not only do they receive regular book recommendations from big theater names, but they can also attend script readings and perform in the bookstore's "Little Theater". The drama store puts forward the slogan of "creative symbiosis", incubates original dramas, and works with various art colleges and universities to transform into an "industry-university-research" base, exploring the generation and reverse output of drama works according to popular themes.
"Every bookstore should let readers find a reason to love it. Ling Yun, general manager of Shanghai Century Duoyun Cultural Development Co., Ltd., said that it is not easy to operate a physical bookstore and has been working hard to innovate. Today's bookstores are more like study rooms, lecture halls, exhibition halls, theaters, meeting rooms, literary gardens, and living rooms...... The bookstore operator is a book distributor, a cultural service provider, and a space operator.
What does it ultimately depend on to retain readers?
Under the wave of digitalization, people's reading habits have quietly changed, and the time and space for reading have been continuously compressed. So, why do people go to bookstores, and do brick-and-mortar bookstores still have a point of existence?
At the same time, when bookstores become "Internet celebrity stores" with their "good looks", and a dazzling array of cultural and creative products and coffee desserts replace books as the "protagonists", people are also thinking: where is the independent value and core competitiveness of bookstores?
In the past March, in Haidian, Beijing, Zhongguancun Book Building, known as the "Great Study Room for Millions of Students", reopened. Not far away, the old bookstore of Peking University has returned. Known as the "Harbor for Book Lovers", Halloween Book Garden also continues to attract a large number of readers with its profound academic background and rich book resources.
Industry insiders believe that improving the "selection characteristics" is the soul of the bookstore. Physical bookstores can attract readers by relying on "appearance", but in the end, it is still "connotation" that can retain readers. Xu Ruilin, deputy director of Tianjin Hexi District Library, said that the selection of books should be investigated and screened to meet the needs of readers, and only by maintaining the unique "selection characteristics" can more readers be attracted.
In recent years, a series of policies have been introduced to support the development of physical bookstores. The Notice on Promoting the Participation of Physical Bookstores in Public Cultural Services issued in 2023 proposes to support physical bookstores to participate in government procurement of public cultural service projects, guide physical bookstores to participate in the construction of public cultural service networks, and encourage physical bookstores to participate in the construction of public reading resources.
Industry experts have pointed out that in order to survive better, physical bookstores need to create more offline immersive reading experiences that cannot be replaced by digital reading, so that bookstores can become a way of life.
Ma Ruijie, an associate professor at Nankai University's School of Journalism and Communication, said, "Even in the age of the Internet, people can't keep all their lives in a virtual space, and they still need to connect with the 'neighborhood'. In this context, bookstores can bring readers a richer 'presence' experience. ”
In Sanshi's view, the retail model of most physical bookstores is still the traditional model of opening stores first, then purchasing goods, and then selling goods, while the new business model is to accurately acquire customers first, then retain, and then convert, that is, people, goods, and field models. At the same time, the retail and sales methods of physical bookstores should be transformed from "gathering like things" to "people grouping".
Many interviewed experts believe that bookstores should further penetrate into the people's living areas, go into street communities and rural farms, and reduce operating costs on the basis of further clarifying the service targets. "Leaving the business district in the center of the city and going to a broader grassroots level may give the bookstore new development opportunities and vitality. Ma Ruijie said.
"The bookstore is the cultural light of the city, an indispensable spiritual oasis. For book lovers, bookstores are an immortal ideal. Sun Qian said. Bookstores connect cultural space, social space, and spiritual space, and only by adhering to the purpose of knowledge service and taking big culture as the target market can they become the eternal warm light in the hearts of readers.
Source: Xinhua News Agency