WeChat steps onto the fierce battlefield of O2O book sales. Photo: IC

 

WeChat steps onto the fierce battlefield of O2O book sales.

While traditional bookstores are already shaking in their boots due to the aggressively increasing number of online bookstores on e-commerce sites such as dangdang.com and JD.com, the entry of WeChat, a mobile text and voice messaging service developed by Tencent in China, into this industry is making their lives that much more difficult.

WeChat's opening volley

On Thursday, WeChat sold its first book through its online retail platform, a new version of A Bitter Journey of Culture by Chinese writer Yu Qiuyu, under its "Best Choice" category, a section of the WeChat app usually reserved for recommending products from clothing to electronics. A collection of stories covering Yu's lectures and travels at home and abroad during the 1980s, this book was first published in 1992. Quickly becoming incredibly popular it influenced a generation of high-school and college students with its beautiful writing and outlook on cultural enlightenment.

However, the book also became a victim of its success as piracy of the work has never ceased despite publishers suspending publication three years ago. "Piracy of this book is so rampant that the total number of pirated versions is 18 times higher than genuine ones," said Yu, upon release of the latest version of the book on WeChat.

This updated version contains more of the author's feelings and observations on life and the world.

"WeChat has become an indispensable part of many users' lives," said Zhao Liang, the manager in charge of online book sales for qq.com. "The category 'Best Choice' on WeChat isn't there to just provide the finest choices for people's basic needs such as clothing and food, but also for their reading demands," said Zhao. "WeChat is extremly suited for helping 'good books find readers.'"

While Zhao explained the advantages WeChat possessed when it comes to book sales, what Zhao failed to mention is why they chose A Bitter Journey of Culture to be their first offered book. The answer, most likely, is very simple; most users of WeChat today were once part of that group that was heavily influenced by this book back in the 1990s.

"Integrating the study of ancient Chinese civilization into contemporary prose, A Bitter Journey of Culture opened a door to cultural enlightenment for many a youth," said a cultural critic going by the pen name Huilongguan. "Especially for those born between the 1970s and 1980s."

Yu himself also regards the book as one of his most representative. He noted that A Bitter Journey of Culture earned many high honors after its original publication to include the "Top 10 Literary Books of the Decade," and "Most Influential Books of the Past 30 Years among Shanghai Readers."

A bitter pill

Sold for 28 yuan ($4.50), a 26 percent discount off its original price, the new e-version sold 300 volumes on its first day. Although the price discount may not seem as attractive compared to other books, luring words such as "only 4,000 limited editions with Yu Qiuyu's signature available" have successfully snared consumers.

"WeChat will act as a new channel for publishers to sell and promote books in the future," said Liu Jiehui, vice president of Media Time, the publisher of the new version of A Bitter Journey of Culture. "By relying on rapid word-of-mouth among different friend circles on WeChat, quality books can quickly become popular and earn sales," said Liu.

Just a week before the move by WeChat, rumors had been flying that another leading domestic online retailer, suning.com, would be closing down its book sales department due to the department's high financial burdens. Although suning.com later denied such a possibility, books are widely recognized as a traditional money-losing asset for many large online retailers.

According to a recent report by Hong Kong-based newspaper Wen Wei Po, amazon.cn's book business hasn't actually turned a profit yet. "In 2007 and 2008, book sales on amazon.cn grew by over 100 percent, but last year this growth rate only reached over 10 percent," said Zhao Bing, an analyst specializing in the Internet industry.

"The sale of books online has been commonly recognized as a low-profit industry," said Mo Linhu, a professor from the Central University of Finance and Economics. "Online retailers never expect their book business to turn a profit. What they're actually doing is using book sales as a way to advertise their websites," said Mo.

You can see the important role promotion plays by looking at a lot of the decisions WeChat has made recently. For instance, during the Spring Festival  holidays WeChat held a "Red Envelope" event on its service. Using this service people on WeChat could send virtual red envelopes to their friends containing different amounts of money.

"They are trying to encourage user's consumption habits on WeChat by any means possible," said Mo.

Despite the low-profit margins in the online book industry, the pressure WeChat's new book service places on traditional bookstores and its online competitors is very real. "The online book business has reached a bottleneck after experiencing rapid growth over the past few years. WeChat represents a new marketing channel and will help diversify the industry," said Zhao.

Global Times