Bertelsmann Book Club Terminated in China

By staff reporter LI YAHONG

    ON July 14, Li Meng received a refund notice from Bertelsmann China, announcing the closure of all businesses owned by Shanghai Bertelsmann Culture Industry Co., Ltd., including the China Book Club. "I felt sorry when I learned of the news," says Li Meng, a magazine worker who had been a member of the club for nine years. On July 31, Bertelsmann also closed its 36 retail bookshops in 18 Chinese cities. Just six years ago the club had 1.5 million members and was the largest membership-based retailer of books and other media in the PRC. But a combination of factors, both in China and abroad, has seen the club wind up its operations in the country.

Cozy reading in a Bertelsmann book store — now a thing of the past.

A Changing Book Market

    German company Bertelsmann first brought its book club business model to China in 1995, after great success in European countries and the US. When Bertelsmann came to China, home computers and cyber shopping were still not common, and readers had to buy books at Xinhua Bookstore outlets, which were mostly located in major urban shopping centers.

    "The bookstores had a limited variety of titles and never offered discounts," recalls Li Meng. "As a Bertelsmann Book Club member, I received beautiful presents as well as discounts for all purchases." Li Meng joined the club with a RMB 30 book purchase in 1999, when she was a senior high school student, and still fondly recalls her classmates' admiration when she flipped through the exquisitely printed Bertelsmann book catalogues. The club model quickly attracted a large number of young readers like Li, particularly middle school and university students.

    However, compared with its stable adult customer base in Germany, Bertelsmann's young Chinese readership was volatile and their reading interests shifted with age. "I've outgrown youth literature and the morale-lifting books recommended by the Book Club like Chicken Soup for the Soul," says Ding Yi, a university student and former book club member who dropped out of the club some time ago. As Ye Jian, editor-in-chief of Bertelsmann China, comments, "It is easy to organize a book club, but difficult to pinpoint the needs of the Chinese readership."

    Nevertheless, the sudden withdrawal of Bertelsmann has disappointed many young readers. A member commented on the Internet: "I've lost a dear friend of many years." Li Meng says, "I miss the cozy reading ambience that a Bertelsmann bookstore provided me."

A Sad Withdrawal

    According to Bertelsmann's China PR Manager Cui Juan, it has been Bertelsmann Headquarters' plan to wind down its troubled book club operations around the world for some time, while still maintaining the large European market. Though Bertelsmann had worked unremittingly for years in China, its withdrawal from the country actually started, unannounced, two years ago.