E-commerce platform JD has helped boost bookstore sales in China during the coronavirus outbreak.
Last month, sales of two children’s bookstores – Caldecott Bookstore and Zhongshang Children’s Books – increased by 221.6 percent and 282 percent respectively, year on year.
According to JD, the increased bookstore sales in China are attributed to consumers staying home during the epidemic and turning to books for inspiration and encouragement.
JD Logistics continued to deliver products to Chinese consumers as usual during the outbreak while implementing a series of disinfectant measures to ensure consumers received their books safely.
The coronavirus outbreak has led to the temporary shutdown of offline bookstores, a shortage of employees due to the epidemic, a sharp drop in operating revenues, and a surge in pressure on store rents and staff spending. During the period, JD has been assisting partnering bookstores in putting out live broadcasts to drive traffic and promote brand awareness, thus boosting bookstore sales in China.
“Supporting offline bookstores to do live broadcast is a good example of how JD.com has been using its resources to help offline bookstores to transform their businesses to better cater to the needs of Chinese consumers,” said JD’s offline book team operations manager Jiao Zhang, “especially when there is limited traffic in offline bookstores during the epidemic period”.
According to the 2019–2020 China Offline Bookstore Industry Report, there are more than 70,000 bookstores in China. Last year, more than 4000 new bookstores opened in the territory. China currently has 135 book malls that are more than 5000sqm each, of which 35 are more than 10,000sqm in size.