(Yicai) May 21 -- More than 50 publishers have refused to participate in JD.Com’s midyear shopping festival, saying the Chinese online retailer’s proposed discounts of as much 80 percent would not cover the cost of the books.

Yicai has learned that 56 publishing houses, including Tsinghua University Press, Peking University Press, and Shanghai Translation Publishing House, said they decided to pass on the 618 sales promotion plan presented by Yuanzhou E-Commerce, the operator of WeChat account JD Books.

Yuanzhou’s legal representative is Yao Yanzhong, a senior vice president at JD.Com and president of the supermarket division of JD Retail.

JD.Com has not yet commented on their refusal. The Beijing-based e-commerce giant asked publishers to offer discounts of 70 percent to 80 percent on all books for the 618 shipping festival campaign that began yesterday.

A customer service employee for Tsinghua University Press’ store on JD.Com said that the store has never participated in JD.Com’s eight-day retail extravaganza.

A marketing editor at STPH, a leading publisher of translated literature in China, said many publishers boycott the campaign mainly as they would earn a meager profit or even sell at a loss because the discounts are too steep.

The editor added that when publishers started to rely more on online retail sites such as Dangdang and JD for sales rather than brick-and-mortar stores, their influence declined. Vendors are now turning to content creators on short-video platforms to sell books in a more controlled environment. 

Sales platforms and livestreaming channels charge commissions on books, a publishing industry insider said, adding that sellers can maintain their profits by raising their prices but high prices are unattractive to readers and disrupt the general rationale of discounts.

The changing behavior of vendors is starting to show as book sales on short-video platforms jumped 31 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, while sales through brick-and-mortar stores fell 18 percent, according to industry data.

Editor: Emmi Laine