Chinanews client, Beijing, April 1st (Reporter Shangguanyun) For many readers, visiting bookstores is a habit. Bookstores provide not only books, but also a carrier, carrying people's cultural yearning and imagination.
A few days ago, the 2021 Reading X Forum was held in Beijing.
From the perspective of changes in consumption habits and the problems faced by bookstores, this discussion focuses on how to transform physical bookstores and how to combine their own characteristics to provide readers with a better experience.
The scene of this forum.
Photo courtesy of Beijing
When consumption habits become more "online", online shopping, in-store...Which way do you prefer to buy books?
Readers' book buying habits are further "online"?
In the minds of older readers, visiting a bookstore to buy books may be a constant childhood memory.
But now, the rise of the Internet and e-commerce platforms has changed this model: just move your fingers according to the prompts, and a good book can get home quickly, and you can also enjoy full discounts.
The previously published "Report on China's Book Retail Market 2020" shows that the size of China's book retail market in 2020 will be 97.08 billion yuan.
Online store channels maintained positive growth, and physical store channels were significantly affected by the epidemic, with a year-on-year decrease of 33.8%.
This data has triggered discussions among many people in the industry.
In terms of book purchases, Feng Xiaohui, manager of the Beijing Open Book Research and Consulting Department, mentioned that online consumption habits have become a major trend, and the epidemic has accelerated the progress of this trend. In 2020, the online scale of books will account for nearly 80%, and the online scale will increase. Increase.
"In the past few years of development, book sales channels have gradually shifted from offline Xinhua Bookstore as the main battlefield to online. Online channels have evolved from the earliest vertical e-commerce to platform e-commerce, and online agglomeration effects continue. Strengthen." she said.
Judging from the amount of data provided by unbooking, physical stores have been continuously upgraded in recent years, but their growth rate has been showing positive and negative fluctuations; the scale of online store channels has continued to expand.
Image source: Beijing open-book photo courtesy
"Online channels are getting deeper and deeper into consumers' life scenes and can reach more people. Of course, discount factors are also an important aspect of its development." Feng Xiaohui believes that in general, it is mainly online stores that have driven the development of the entire market.
How can physical bookstores respond?
As far as book sales channels are concerned, "how to operate a bookstore" has always attracted readers' attention.
Combining with the "net celebrity check-in" problems faced by bookstores, Zhang Xiao, founder of Wuli Bookstore, believes that what people care about is the content of the carrier, and the paper, electronics, and audio of the book are just a tool shell.
Including scene design and holding events, for bookstores, from music to listening to music, from content to reading content, a cultural space must be planned, designed, edited and presented to make readers willing to consume.
Wang Yulong, the person in charge of Jiangjing Bookstore, mentioned that many bookstores will face some common problems, such as a single product.
In the new media era, how to build an efficient operation team and how to carry out spatial transformation under the condition of limited budget are issues that we have to think about.
"Building a bookstore into a diversified cultural space" is not new.
Wang Yulong said that bookstores should conduct differentiated operations based on their own characteristics.
"For example, Jiangjing Bookstore is located between the Jiangxi Provincial Library, Museum, and Science and Technology Museum. Its income mainly comes from four pieces: books are the basic plate, the water bar is the daily flow, and cultural and creative gifts are the growth points of our future performance, including activities. Plan and wait," he said.
"Content" is always the key
However, no matter how the carrier and consumption channels are transformed, they are inseparable from good book content.
Consumption methods have changed, and reader needs have become more diverse. Providing readers with valuable content is always a power point.
Data map: Citizens study in a bookstore in Changchun, Jilin Province.
Photo by Zhang Yao
According to the aforementioned report in the article, Feng Xiaohui mentioned that the number of new book varieties in 2020 will reach 170,000, which is a year-on-year decrease of nearly 12% compared to 2019.
In recent years, by observing the proportion of new books, we found that the contribution of new books to the overall market is declining.
"The publishing industry, as a content-based industry, is a content-driven market. Fresh content not only injects fresh blood into the industry, but also injects hope for the future." She said.
Feng Xiaohui mentioned the "Laughing Cat Diary" series, which has been published in 27 volumes so far.
The old series laid the foundation for the publication and sales of the new booklets, and each new booklet can be included in the open book children's bestseller list in the month or the following month when it is launched.
After each new sub-volume is published and listed, it will also lead to a new peak in sales of the previously listed varieties.
"Combined with this situation, bookstores should organize and display the products in the store around the audience and customers, from a space to a scene space that can meet the needs of the customers." She said that readers' demand for content will always be in the future. .
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