Focus

Bookstores face an unhappy ending

By Zhang Yuchen (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-08 07:25

Two visitors read e-books at the 17th Beijing International Book Fair in this file photo taken August 30. Su Luzhang / For China Daily

Online rivals could drive temples of literature into oblivion. Zhang Yuchen reports from Guangzhou.

The digital age may close the book on bookstores. The final chapter approaches for many of these temples of literature, where enlightenment was just a page away and young and old spent entire afternoons buried deep in concentration.

That was another era. Today, the country's bookstores need a miracle if they are to survive the next 10 years, many believe.

Thanks to rising rents and the boom in discount Internet deals, just half of the independent bookshops doing business in 2000 are still open, according to figures from the China Booksellers and Publishers Association.

And about 80 percent of those left will also bite the dust within a decade, predicted Cai Ling, a culture and communications analyst with Zhongtou Consultants in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

So, is the end really nigh for the traditional bookstore? According to publishing industry experts, yes and no.

Although most contacted by China Daily agreed stores need urgently to modernize and diversify, many added that only by harnessing the power of the Web will more businesses stay afloat.

"Bookstores can't survive if they ignore the power of the Internet," said Guo Zhiying, manager of the Guangzhou branch of the China National Publications Import and Export Corporation. "The key is finding a solution on how to work together."

Barnes and Noble, the world's largest bookstore chain, was the latest to join the list of troubled brands on Aug 3, when it released a statement announcing it was "reviewing strategic alternatives", which included the possible sale of its assets.

Executives say the United States-based company is suffering a chronic decline in sales and shrinking cash flow.

The announcement followed a series of high-profile closures throughout China in recent years, including Beijing's Disanji Bookstore, the country's largest private bookshop in January, and the Guangzhou branch of Sanlian Bookstore in July, as well as Mingjun Bookstore and Scholar Books in Shanghai.

More than 600 outlets owned by Xishu Bookshop have also either been closed or re-branded since February 2009.

"Since last September, I have felt a real chill in the market," said Qu Huazhang, who owns Red Leaf Bookstore in Guangzhou. "Many bookstores have been going under due to financial losses."

However, Guo said the country's publishing market is far from "shrinking to nothing". Statistics show sales have remained relatively steady, which suggests it is not the desire for books that has changed but the way people buy them.

Shopping trends

The shift toward the Web has been huge, according to ACNielson, a global market research company headquartered in New York, which reported that 56 percent of China's 400 million-plus netizens are browsing for books.

Last year, online stores accounted for 10 percent of all book sales, show figures from the publishers' association.

"Online bookstores are one of the major factors behind our defeat," said Wang Xiaomei, manager of Sanlian Bookstore in Guangzhou.

Not only do Internet businesses offer a greater selection of products and convenient delivery services but they also benefit from being able to undercut traditional stores with hefty discounts.

With fewer overheads, Web-based stores can still make a profit from selling books up to 50 percent cheaper than walk-in shops.

"Many books, even the newly published ones, are sold at lower prices online," said Shang Shuling, an editor with Nan Fang Press Group in Guangzhou and a self-confessed bookworm.

"Sometimes, when I was interested in a certain book, I wander around the bookstores (to look at it) and then go home and buy it online," said the 40-year-old, who has a collection of more than 6,000 books, most of which he bought years ago from Sanlian.

The pricing strategy used by Web stores, which knock an average of 30 percent off the cover price, has helped reduce the profit made by traditional bookshops by at least 5 percent, according to media reports.