As China’s national reading ratio has decreased in the past six years, its online book shopping has grown dramatically. This ironic and somewhat perplexing development was discovered by comparing a 2005 report conducted by AC Nielsen Consulting Group, and a national reading survey conducted by China Research Institute of Publishing Science (CRIPS).

 

Nielsen’s report declared China as the world leader in online book-purchasing, with 63 percent of all online users having made purchases of some kind, and a full 56 percent of those having purchased books.

 

“The figure hasn’t been updated yet, but the rate is definitely going higher,” said Li Guoqing, CEO of Dangdang.com, China’s top online shopping platform. Ironically, despite their dramatic growth, both Dangang and Joyo.com, China’s other top E-commerce site, continue to operate in the red.

 

Despite the drop in China’s reading ratio, it seems that the book market is nevertheless booming thanks to the ever-growing presence of E-commerce.

 

“Online bookstores made it possible for people to have access to more options, at the same time boosting the print book market,” explained CRIPS researcher Qu Mingying.

 

Traditional bookstores are taking a hit from the growth of online shopping, as they are forced to lower prices in order to compete with websites that have far less overhead. For example, the recent release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—which should have been a windfall for bookstores—turned into a fiasco when Joyo.com, a leading Chinese online bookseller, offered the book at a full 30 percent off the cover price.