People flocked Eslite's first bookstore on the Chinese mainland on its opening day in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, at the end of 2015. (Photo/China Daily)
Come June, Eslite, one of Taiwan's largest bookstore chains, will launch a new branch on the 52nd and 53rd floors of Shanghai Tower, a 128-story brand new skyscraper that was completed last year.
The bookstore, which will have an annex on the ground floor of the tower, will occupy 6,500 square meters in all, and provide cultural and creative services as well.
It's a strategy that Eslite has adopted to survive and thrive in the online era, when traditional bookstores are struggling to stay afloat.
And the innovative strategy appears to be working wonders.
Eslite, established in 1989, attracted about 180 million people to its bookstores last year, up 26 percent over the previous year. It introduced a record 300,000 titles as well. Books on humanities, arts, creative subjects and lifestyle serve as its main categories.
Eslite is known for stocking a large collection of English language publications. It is the only Chinese bookstore chain that has outlets on the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Eslite's branches in Taipei are open 24 hours a day. The chain believes physical bookstores have to be irresistible lifestyle options, shopping centers as it were, to attract consumers and book lovers. And to earn customer loyalty, they need to do much more.
"Providing information alone is clearly not enough to attract readers to step into bookstores nowadays. Eslite is trying to deliver a lifestyle and a great feeling worthy of humans. I hope everyone can reexamine and redefine their lives after spending some time reading at Eslite," said Robert Wu, founder of Eslite Bookstore.
By lifestyle, Wu's reference is related to Eslite's weekly culinary events and such activities. Customers can even buy tea sets besides tea-related books.
Eslite tends to sublet part of the prime real estate where its outlets are housed. So it offers a sort of package deal to visitors: Not only do they get to buy or read books but they could also hop across to fashion stores, and shops selling cultural and creative products next door, or even tuck into snacks at restaurants in the same complex.
Thus, Eslite has found a way to make profits in spite of being essentially a physical bookstore in the online era.
Confident that its model will deliver profits, Eslite plans to open another three branches this year. The Shanghai store will be joined by one each in Heilongjiang province, Hong Kong and Kaohsiung.
The bookstore's first mainland branch opened in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, in November. Located next to Jinji Lake in the central part of the city, the Eslite bookstore-cum-shopping complex spans 15,000 sq m.
Every branch of Eslite has its own features. The Suzhou branch showcases some cultural elements of the city like Suzhou embroidery, Kunqu Opera, and nutshell-carving. Book prices tend to be 10 to 15 percent more expensive than those in Taiwan.
On either side of the landmark complex are houses and apartments that Eslite has co-developed with Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd, Japan's second-largest real estate developer. The housing units carry a price tag of 40,000 yuan ($6,130) to 60,000 yuan per sq m.
Chai Guohui, deputy general manager at Hopefluent Real Properties, a Hong Kong-listed property agent, said: "The housing projects of Eslite are located at the Singaporean industrial park in Suzhou, where local residents have higher incomes. The flats carry very high price tags, and it's not easy to win in the market."
Eslite has reviewed some housing projects in Nanjing (Jiangsu province), Hangzhou (Zhejiang province), Shenzhen and Guangzhou (Guangdong province) as it aims to expand its bookstore network in major cities and provincial capitals on the mainland. It plans to take part in the growth of the real estate sector besides selling books.
Wu readily admits the bookstore sector is struggling. According to CommonWealth Magazine of Taiwan, Eslite will likely survive by leveraging its most important asset－its brand.
"I would tell shareholders and peers that the Eslite brand can be applied to the real estate sector as it is related to living and life," Wu said.
