Bookstore seizes initiative, in battle to make ends meet
October 1, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE newly opened branch of Jifeng Bookstore on the Minhang campus of the East China Normal University is offering discounts and revamping its book selection in an effort to counter sluggish sales.
Since opening in April, the shop has averaged sales of about 4,000 yuan (US$615) a week, compared with operating costs of about 50,000 yuan a month, according to Su Yang, a store manager in charge of its book sales.
When the new 600-square-meter store first opened, its turnover was about 7,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan a week, but sales slumped to 2,000 yuan during the summer holidays.
Jifeng, the city's biggest privately owned bookseller, has been finding it hard to make ends meet throughout its extensive franchise of stores as online booksellers come to dominate the market. The chain has already closed several shops in Shanghai.
Under a current agreement, the university is not requiring the store to pay a rent. If that were to change, the campus shop would face even more serious financial problems, said Huang Sheng, another manager of the store, who is in charge of the coffee area.
Jifeng blames the popularity of online booksellers and the availability of free, pirated e-books for its sales woes.
"The majority of our customers are faculty," said Huang. "Most students would rather buy books online or download free e-books. They do visit the store but don't necessarily buy anything here."
The shop is offering discounts of 10 percent to the general public and up to 19 percent for people who sign up as store members. Still, that's a far cry from the 50 percent discounts of online booksellers.
"I usually buy online if I need a specific book," said Lu Xinyi, a sophomore majoring in chemistry. "Students have little income and have to save money."
The Jifeng branch is increasing the number of academic books it stocks and reducing its popular literature range because those are the books most commonly available on the pirate market.
"We made the adjustment based on demand from teachers and postgraduate students, who buy more academic books," Huang said.
The store, he said, receives big orders from teachers doing research. Sales also come from teachers or advanced students who stay at the university's hotel next to the store, attending conferences or training courses.
When it opened, the store said it would concentrate mainly on social science and humanities books. The branch retains the atmosphere that has long distinguished the Jifeng franchise: an intellectual ambience where book lovers can browse the shelves or sit and read over a cup of coffee.
Staff in the store's cafe area has started including free cookies or biscuits with every cup of coffee.
The store is also staging promotional campaigns at nearby campuses, including the Minhang branches of Jiao Tong University and Shanghai Dianji University. It is offering discounts to student cardholders of those universities if they buy coffee at the store.
The bookstore is running promotions in nearby residential communities to expand its customer base. It is also hosting a number of activities, such as reading events and lectures, and screening movies to attract more people to the shop.
It's a challenging market even beyond Minhang's borders.
Jifeng has been forced to close several downtown Shanghai stores, blaming high rents, low margins and the emergence of online booksellers.
Part of its survival strategy is seeking new locations in areas with less hustle and bustle, a more complementary setting for its image as a peaceful oasis catering to those in pursuit of knowledge.
Still, Jifeng operates five downtown stores amid the urban hurly-burly, and the decision to open a shop on a campus in outlying Minhang surprised many people. The branch is almost an hour's drive from Jifeng's flagship shop on Shaanxi Road S.
The decision came on support from the university, which offered the bookstore rent-free premises and a community of teachers and faculty for whom books are an integral part of life.
Since opening in April, the shop has averaged sales of about 4,000 yuan (US$615) a week, compared with operating costs of about 50,000 yuan a month, according to Su Yang, a store manager in charge of its book sales.
When the new 600-square-meter store first opened, its turnover was about 7,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan a week, but sales slumped to 2,000 yuan during the summer holidays.
Jifeng, the city's biggest privately owned bookseller, has been finding it hard to make ends meet throughout its extensive franchise of stores as online booksellers come to dominate the market. The chain has already closed several shops in Shanghai.
Under a current agreement, the university is not requiring the store to pay a rent. If that were to change, the campus shop would face even more serious financial problems, said Huang Sheng, another manager of the store, who is in charge of the coffee area.
Jifeng blames the popularity of online booksellers and the availability of free, pirated e-books for its sales woes.
"The majority of our customers are faculty," said Huang. "Most students would rather buy books online or download free e-books. They do visit the store but don't necessarily buy anything here."
The shop is offering discounts of 10 percent to the general public and up to 19 percent for people who sign up as store members. Still, that's a far cry from the 50 percent discounts of online booksellers.
"I usually buy online if I need a specific book," said Lu Xinyi, a sophomore majoring in chemistry. "Students have little income and have to save money."
The Jifeng branch is increasing the number of academic books it stocks and reducing its popular literature range because those are the books most commonly available on the pirate market.
"We made the adjustment based on demand from teachers and postgraduate students, who buy more academic books," Huang said.
The store, he said, receives big orders from teachers doing research. Sales also come from teachers or advanced students who stay at the university's hotel next to the store, attending conferences or training courses.
When it opened, the store said it would concentrate mainly on social science and humanities books. The branch retains the atmosphere that has long distinguished the Jifeng franchise: an intellectual ambience where book lovers can browse the shelves or sit and read over a cup of coffee.
Staff in the store's cafe area has started including free cookies or biscuits with every cup of coffee.
The store is also staging promotional campaigns at nearby campuses, including the Minhang branches of Jiao Tong University and Shanghai Dianji University. It is offering discounts to student cardholders of those universities if they buy coffee at the store.
The bookstore is running promotions in nearby residential communities to expand its customer base. It is also hosting a number of activities, such as reading events and lectures, and screening movies to attract more people to the shop.
It's a challenging market even beyond Minhang's borders.
Jifeng has been forced to close several downtown Shanghai stores, blaming high rents, low margins and the emergence of online booksellers.
Part of its survival strategy is seeking new locations in areas with less hustle and bustle, a more complementary setting for its image as a peaceful oasis catering to those in pursuit of knowledge.
Still, Jifeng operates five downtown stores amid the urban hurly-burly, and the decision to open a shop on a campus in outlying Minhang surprised many people. The branch is almost an hour's drive from Jifeng's flagship shop on Shaanxi Road S.
The decision came on support from the university, which offered the bookstore rent-free premises and a community of teachers and faculty for whom books are an integral part of life.
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