Children’s literature writer Yu Yujun attends an Author Event held by Tomorrow Publishing House with her fans at a Shandong bookstore named Shandong Book City.

■Sun Jue

In 2017, national or local activities such as the reading promotion and books entering campus have pushed up the sales of children's books, while online retailer Tmall has become a rapidly growing distribution channel for these books.

On the contrary, the book sales based on online influencers experienced issues such as the uneven quality of book recommendations and stagnant sale growth after the bubble.

How, then, should children's book publishers follow the trend and explore the market under new circumstances?

Improve service and marketing of physical bookshops

Zhejiang Juvenile & Children's Publishing House(ZJCPH) is one of the six large children's book publishers in East China, and has maintained a leading position in the market by publishing high-quality children's literature books. The six East China publishers' share in 2017 children's market reached 17.77%. Physical bookstores are the main distribution channel for the publisher, currently over 65 percent of ZJCPH's books are sold through brick-and-mortar bookstores.

Shen Weizhong, deputy director and marketing director of the press, said that they would focus on the online retail of three major platforms, in addition to the physical channels. They would also continue to push forward the “ZJCPH Storytelling” events, to improve the consumer experience. In terms of the marketing activities, they will strengthen links with the students by having book recommendations tailored for winter and summer vacations, and bringing books into schools. More than 400 author events are scheduled for this year.

In addition to all these, ZJCPH will establish a “promoter pool” by inviting renowned teachers to recommend good books, and will improve relationships with children's libraries nationwide and various product recommendation platforms, in order to complete the circle of book recommendation.

Another member of the league of six East China publishers — Tomorrow Publishing House — is also actively moving toward the end point of the distribution channel by establishing micro-shops inside physical bookshops and building its own retail platforms. In particular, they cooperate with the bookshops to provide consumer services such as reader events and trainings.

Launch Customised books on online retailers

The battle of deep discount by online book retailers has been going on for a while, and gradually it has expanded into the physic bookshops. As a result, although the sales figure of major kids' publishers is on the rise, the profitability remains low. In order to resolve this problem, many publishers have launched tailor-made products for each specific distribution channel.

With Tmall, which has rapidly grown into the third largest online book retail platform, publishers have stepped up their cooperations. ZJCPH selected more than a dozen fast-growing Tmall stores to engage in in-depth cooperations with key customers. In 2017, its sales revenue increased by 230 percent. ZJCPH has developed a special "Tmall Support list", that is, to select about 200 products suitable for online sales from more than 3,000 frequently sold products, and to make a major promotion every six months on the Tmall platform. This year, with the support of Zhejiang Xinhua distribution and logistic services, ZJCPH will begin to operate the Tmall flagship store independently.

Tomorrow Publishing House(TPH) also has a rapidly growing sales performance on Tmall in 2017. According its distribution director, sales of several key stores on the platform have increased substantially. In cooperation with different online book retailers, TPH designed meticulous sales models. In the future, they will continue their marketing research and new product development to meet the consumers' demand.

Carry out marketing innovations based on group buying

TPH also cooperated with online retailers to carry out marketing innovations. During the “Double 11" period (a sale period in China around 11 November each year) last year, they participated in the "JD.com Live Streaming Competition". The authors were invited to a live broadcast with the editors every day and eventually TPH topped the rank of children's book sales volume.

In addition, TPH actively developed the market potential of WeChat group buying, and designed marketing plans jointly with different communities. This attempt resulted in a record of total sales of more than a million yuan in a single purchase in 2017. Through the "Writer + Teacher + Editor" reading tutorial course, it also achieved a single purchase of nearly 3 million yuan. In order to satisfy the needs of group buying customers and even to discover potential needs, TPH created a marketing photo library and a text library to meet the needs of different customers by providing quality information, and thus increased sales conversion rates.

ZJCPH vigorously developed self-media channels, and continued to expand its business in the new media including online influencers, Iqiyi Store, WeChat Stores and Youzan.

21st Century Publishing House, another one of the league of six East China publishers, organised a series of family travel activities called "The Mouse Reporter" after the sales of the eponymous title has reached 5 million since its publication in 2011. This year, they will go to meet the creator of the Series in Italy, opening a new chapter in its marketing activities.

(translated by Xiao Jianpeng)