JD.com's Book Promotion Plan Faces Resistance

TapTechNews May 21, recently, JD.com launched a book promotion plan during the 618 period, claiming that it will promote with a 2-3 discount on the price of all kinds of books within 8 days.

The promotion plan was quickly resisted by publishing institutions. At present, including 10 in Beijing and 46 in Shanghai, publishing institutions have sent notification letters to Jiangsu Yuanzhou E-commerce Co., Ltd., stating that they will not participate in this round of promotion of JD.com.

TapTechNews found out that Jiangsu Yuanzhou E-commerce Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JD.com Mall and is responsible for operating the book business.

According to the news quoted by The Paper from industry insiders, generally, a 30% discount on the book pricing of publishing houses is the cost bottom line, and the cost of some books with a small print run is even higher. A 2-3 discount on all kinds of books means that publishing houses have to sell books at the cost price or even at a loss. The platform unilaterally requires publishing houses to participate in such promotions with channel superiority, which is a disruptive behavior to the book market.

JD.com has not given a response for the time being.

TapTechNews noticed that as early as 2011, China Press and Publishing Journal and Beijing Daily respectively published articles such as 24 Children's Publishing Houses Jointly Resist JD.com's Low-Price Promotion and Online Bookstore Price War Angers Publishers, pointing out that the discount behavior of JD.com Mall and Amazon China is suspected of unfair competition and disrupting the market.

Liu Qiangdong, the founder of JD.com, then responded strongly through Weibo: Many people have accused JD.com of disrupting the price order of the book industry! In fact, what we want to break is the monopoly behavior in the book industry! These several publishing houses and a certain website have jointly signed the so-called'super strategic agreement', and its essence is to restrict competition and maintain monopoly!