On the 7th, the 2026 Reading X Conference, jointly hosted by the China Publishing Association and the China Book and Publication Industry Association, was held in Beijing. The reporter learned on site that the conference consists of a bookstore forum and a publishing forum. At the meeting, the 2025 book retail market trend insight report was officially released. The data shows that in 2025, the scale of content e-commerce e-commerce e-commerce will increase by 30.43% year-on-year, accounting for 40.53% of the overall book retail market, surpassing platform e-commerce to become the largest segmented retail channel. It is worth noting that from the perspective of segmented markets, there are six sub categories in the book retail market that have shown positive growth, mainly focusing on related sectors such as physical and mental health, skill improvement, film and television, and technology. The report clearly states that the current book retail market is in a stage of stock competition, and the market supply side is shifting from a state of "expanding the cake" to a state of "competing for market share"; The retail sector is shifting from "homogenization leading to price wars" to "differentiation creating value"; At the same time, user demand has shifted from "purchasing goods" to "obtaining effective content". Yang Wei, Chief Researcher of Beijing Open Book Information Technology Co., Ltd., believes that the book retail market is already in the "comprehensive content driven stage", and various levels and types of bookstores have opened up various forms of content value services based on paper books, with significant innovative achievements. In the morning forum, Ai Limin, Chairman of the China Book and Publication Industry Association, pointed out in his speech that as an important cornerstone of the book industry, the transformation and exploration of physical bookstores have achieved remarkable results. On the one hand, they have broken homogeneous competition through branding and characteristic operations; On the other hand, through precise service segmentation of customer groups and active integration into the public cultural system, the social function and cultural value of bookstores continue to enhance. Industry insiders have also shared their feelings from different perspectives on how physical bookstores can better develop and establish deeper connections with readers. Li Zhao, General Manager of the E-commerce Operations Center of Hubei Xinhua Bookstore Group, mentioned in his speech that in the face of the industry's inevitable shift from "optional" to "main battlefield" online channels, Hubei Xinhua has activated the organization through profound mechanism innovation and systematically constructed a comprehensive distribution matrix of "platform e-commerce+new media e-commerce+integrated e-commerce". Xu Tao, co-founder of Suzhou Slow Bookstore and Xintianli Bookstore, believes that the survival of bookstores does not depend on their size, but on whether they have unique "product power". This requires bookstores to infuse sincerity from the taste of book selection, the details of space creation to the temperature of service; And based on this, establish a deep connection with readers through real content dissemination. At the publishing forum held in the afternoon, Wu Shulin, Chairman of the China Publishing Association, stated that in the era of intelligence, the systematized knowledge assets of the publishing industry are experiencing unprecedented appreciation. The industry should actively embrace technology and transform knowledge into the "fuel" for development. The president of Zhejiang Children's Publishing House solemnly stated that publishing institutions must take the initiative to transform internally and expand into diverse formats such as cultural and creative industries, film and television, and education around IP; Actively embracing technologies such as AI and building a new ecosystem of "content+technology+platform". (New Society)