Online shopping is growing rapidly in China, and more and more Chinese are buying books on the net.

An earlier report issued by AC Nielsen revealed that China has the highest online book-purchasing rate in the world.

About 63 percent of Chinese Internet users had made online purchases and 56 percent of the purchasers had bought reading materials, the highest ratio in the world, said the report issued by AC Nielsen Consulting Group, a leading world marketing information company in late 2005.

"The figure hasn't been updated yet, but the rate is definitely going higher," said Li Guoqing, CEO of Dangdang.com, China's biggest online bookseller.

But the whole picture is different. According to the fourth national reading survey released by China Research Institute of Publishing Science (CRIPS), there's a decrease in China's national reading ratio over the past six years.

However, as E-commerce became part of people's daily life, the book market has seen a big leap in sales volume and readership. Dangdang.com recently saw a boom in its sales volume and readership respectively.

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

Yet things are not so rosy with traditional bookstores. "Many people come to our bookstore, just to write down the names of the books they want and then go online shopping. We are embarrassed, “said a sales clerk at a traditional bookstore in Beijing.

A fierce "price war" is taking shape between traditional bookstores and their online counterparts. Faced with the low-cost advantage of online bookstores, traditional ones can do nothing but lower the prices.

During the recent release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", Joyo.com offered the book at about 70 percent of its regular price. As a result, traditional bookstores, especially chains and large-sized ones also have to cut the price sharply.

"Generally speaking, the prosperity of virtual bookstores has had some impact on their real-world counterparts, but not that significantly," Qu, the researcher commented.

However, Huang Yuhai, Chairman of 99read.com, another online bookseller told the reporter that online-bookstores pose no threat to traditional ones, instead can serve as a beneficial complement.

And despite the growth, online booksellers still have a long way to go in terms of sales.” It is still too early to tell," Huang said. "The total sales volume of three online bookstores including Dangdang, Joyo, and 99read reached 500 million yuan (US$66.7 million), taking up only 2 percent of the book market in China while Amazon.com alone holds 40 percent to 50 percent of the American market."

Established in 1999 and 2000 respectively, Dangdang.com and Joyo.com are China's leading online shopping platforms. Though Dangdang claimed its clients increased more than 100 percent in each of the past six years, it still remains unprofitable. Its main rival Joyo, which has been acquired by Amazon .com, is also operating in the red.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2007)