Bookstores launch 鈥榯akeout鈥 service
Print Edition
a TOTAL of 72 Beijing brick-and-mortar bookstores have signed up for Meituan Dianping, China鈥檚 online food delivery platform, and launched 鈥渢akeout鈥 service to attract more customers and mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
Thirty minutes after placing an order on the Meituan app, Beijing resident Guo received his book, the first order for the Rongke branch of Zhongshuge Bookstore since the chain bookstore closed all its stores on February 1.
The temporary closing is not an isolated case. Data show because of the pandemic, about 80 percent of brick-and-mortar bookstores in Beijing have closed.
According to a survey conducted by the Beijing Institute of Culture Innovation and Communication, more than 48 percent of the 248 bookstores responding said their cash flow can only last one to three months, while more than 27 percent said it can last only a month.
According to the Rongke branch of Zhongshuge Bookstore, average daily customer flow was about 3,000 during the same period last year.
This year, due to the store鈥檚 closing and lack of sales channels, February sales revenue plunged to zero.
Meanwhile, for the Guomao branch of the Jianshe Bookstore, passenger flow during the pandemic has dropped by more than 80 percent.
To survive the crisis, brick-and-mortar bookstores once heavily reliant on social gatherings are transitioning their markets and services online through new approaches such as livestreaming and Web sales.
To help bookstores resume business, Beijing authorities have coordinated with Meituan to provide an online selling platform and quick delivery times.
The food delivery platform vowed to exempt platform service fees and provide bookstores with operational guidance and other support to help speed the transition.
鈥淢any books do not yet have e-book versions,鈥 Guo said. 鈥淚f there is a need to find information, there is no solution when bookstores are closed, so the book 鈥榯akeout鈥 service helps solve the problem for people who would have otherwise had nowhere to turn.鈥
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