Newspapers & Periodicals Distribution

In 2001, China Post newspapers and periodicals distribution sectors altogether distributed 7410 kinds of newspapers and periodicals at me circulation of 18.9 billion copies, introducing additional 465 kinds of publications compared with last year. The accumulated distribution volume or newspapers and periodicals amounted to 17.63 billion, 1.15 billion respectively. The year-round revenue has reached 5.432 billion yuan, up 5.77% against last year, among which, revenue from newspapers and periodicals was 5.14 billion yuan, up 5.79% over last year, revenue from books 211 million yuan, up 7.99% against last year, revenue from postal audio-visual products 80.43 million yuan. Retail business revenue has fulfilled 1.641 billion yuan, up 21.56% against last year, accounting for 30.21% of the total.

In 2001, centering around development of the business, newspapers and periodicals sectors nationwide continued to strengthen the network capacity and to improve standardized distribution network. In addition to doing well in year-end newspapers and periodicals subscription, considerable attention has been paid to encourage rolling subscription and supplementary subscription, to further promote agency products such as third-party collecting and subscribing services as well as successful business models such as centralized subscription and decentralized distribution, etc. Newspapers and periodicals sectors have successfully promoted subscription and retail business through building up marketing action plan, launching Newspapers and Periodicals Revenue Breaking 1.8 billion yuan Program in a timely manner and organizing various contests in each province, all of which have effectively encouraged further business development. In 2001, each province sped up the pace in kiosk construction, perfected network distribution system and expanded product range. So far, China Post has boasted more than 20,000 newspapers and periodicals kiosks nationwide. By the end of 2001, Department of Propaganda of Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Spiritual Culture Office, State Press and Publication Administration and State Post Bureau jointly organized an on-spot meeting in Shanghai to exchange experience, which further promoted the kiosk construction project as well as business development.

In 2001, China Post further sped up the distribution for popular periodicals and greatly enhanced competitive edge in the market. Newspapers and periodicals distribution has initiated to cooperate with network operation sectors, which has resulted in remarkable improvement in newspapers and periodicals delivery time. Thanks to these efforts to speed up distribution for 40 kinds of popular periodicals, distribution volume has been skyrocketing. State Post Bureau has carried out mail center system around China, adjusted the relationship between sorting data and distribution data as well as between sorting accounting and distribution accounting. Distribution and printing time with regard to popular newspapers and periodicals in the cities where the seven first-class mail centers are located has enjoyed a remarkable improvement by reducing half or one day. Meanwhile, inter-provincial newspapers and periodicals distribution has also witnessed continuous improvement, which should be attributed to the practical and feasible actions taken by every province. 74. 5% of provincial level newspapers can reach customers on the same date of printing, up 3 percentage points against last year.

To guarantee the newspapers and periodicals distribution a smooth going so as to serve the news agencies and readers better, Leveraging the advancement of technology , China Post has been speeding up the construction pace in science and technology. In 2001, Post integrated computer network for transmitting data on newspapers and periodicals distribution was put into operation. Meanwhile, great efforts have been paid to get ready for the online newspapers and periodicals subscription by developing online subscription functions, and conducting preliminary preparation for online audio-visual publication, etc.