Shanghai bookstores take steps to get through tough times

However, it will still take time for business to return to normal. From Saturday, a total of 58 bookstores jointly launched a giant open-air book exhibition with special discounts to attract customers.

To survive the crisis, brick-and-mortar bookstores that once relied heavily on social gatherings are resorting to shifting their markets and services from offline to online through new approaches including live streaming and online selling.

The Shanghai Foreign Language Bookstore, with a history of 70 years, has settled in Meituan Dianping, China's online food delivery platform, and launched "take-out" service to attract more customers and mitigate the effect of the outbreak.

Gu Bin, general manager of the bookstore, said it gained a sales of 56,600 yuan (around $8,000) on the first day of the "take-out" service.

According to Meituan Dianping, three brick-and-mortar bookstores in Shanghai and a total of 72 bookstores in Beijing have settled in the platform.