China's online book sales highest in world

In a report released in late 2005 by AC Nielsen Consulting Group, as on-line shopping becomes a rapidly growing activity in China, the country has at present the highest online book-purchasing rate in the world, China Daily reported.

The report revealed that 63% of Chinese Internet users had made online purchases, while 56% of these purchases bought reading materials. This is the highest ratio in the world, AC Nielsen said. The figure has not been updated since the report’s release, but the "rate is definitely going higher," Li Guoqing, CEO of Dangdang.com, China's biggest online bookseller, told China Daily.

Dangdang.com recently saw a jump in sales volume and readership, the report said.

"Online bookstores made it possible for people to have access to more options, at the same time, boosting the print book market," said Qu Mingying, a researcher with the Beijing-based China Research Institute of Publishing Science (CRIPS).

Unfortunately, this comes at a cost to traditional bookstores. A sales clerk revealed to China Daily how customers would visit their store, only to record the name of a book title before going online to buy the book.

Additionally, traditional bookstores are compelled to lower their prices to compete with their low-cost online counterpart, China Daily reported. For instance, Joyo.com offered the newly released "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" at a 70% discount from the retail price, forcing traditional bookstores to drop their prices as well.

On the other hand, Huan Yuhai, Chairman of 99read.com, told China Daily he believed both traditional and online bookstores could be complementary. The threat is not that great, he said, after all, Chinese online booksellers only make up about 2% of the Chinese book market. Huan compared this to the American market, where Amazon.com alone has a 40% to 50% of the book market share.

Interestingly, China Daily noted that in spite of the increase in online book sales, a fourth national reading survey released by CRIPS showed a decline in China's national reading ration over the past six years.

Dangdang.com and Joyo.com are China's leading online shopping platforms. They were set up in 1999 and 2000 respectively.