Keeping spirits up

According to the report, suspension of businesses due to the virus outbreak has forced bookshops to think harder about how to find targeted consumers, how to connect them and how to attract them to buy products, especially via the internet.

"Although many bookstores have tried to promote products online, the sales are limited, far below the level of physical bookshops before the outbreak," writes the report.

Xiang Aiqun, manager of the Rongke branch of Zhong Shu Ge in Beijing, agrees, saying that, from what she has seen, online promotion provides very limited help in increasing sales.

Zhong Shu Ge's branches in different cities have organized four livestreaming activities since Feb 5.Some 7,000 viewers watched the first streamed event live, but viewer numbers dropped to 1,000 for the following broadcasts, Xiang says.

"Most people are watching them for fun. It is hard to say how many people will really buy the books we promote online," she says, admitting that "people are concerned more about the epidemic rather than reading books".

Despite the twists and turns, Xiang still sees livestreaming as one of the new promotional methods for bookstores, although she doesn't see it as the best-selling tool for bookshops.

"Livestreaming is a new area for us," Xiang says. "We need time (for it to bear fruit). Even Li Jiaqi, the most famous livestreaming cosmetics seller in China, was relatively obscure for two years before becoming an internet sensation."

The Rongke branch of Zhong Shu Ge was launched in June 2019. By the end of 2019, it had welcomed 450,000 customers, Xiang says.

The good news is, according to a new policy by the government, the bookshop is exempt from its rent payment in February, and the rents for March and April will be cut in half.

Bookstore insiders like Xiang applaud the policy, but still worry about the difficult situation.

"It's really tough for us," she says. "However, we are still trying our best to find solutions every day. We are promoting our bookshop and its books on various online platforms such as TikTok, Sina Weibo and WeChat.

"They may not work, but what we want to achieve the most is to find a way to keep our spirits up. We don't want to give in to the circumstances too easily."

The bookstore hopes to find sustainable ways that can still be applied in the future when everything returns to normal, Xiang says.

"We are not trying everything. We want to find solutions that we can continue to use after the epidemic is under control," she adds.

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