Antique Bookstore Marketing Strategies as Urban Cultural Landmarks

Antique bookstores record the history of urban development and are crucial for urban cultural construction. Traditional business models can no longer meet antique bookstores' survival needs in the digital era. Thus, this study investigates a traditional physical bookstore, Suzhou Antique Bookstore, as the case to re-examine its functions and values as an urban cultural landmark, proposing a new sort of sustainable niche cultural tourism. Based on interviews, the authors discuss the pros and cons of the bookstore's current position using the STP model and the 7Ps marketing mix. Despite the current strategies, there is still room for improvement in digital trends. As an urban cultural benchmark, they suggest three transformation strategies for the bookstore: product selection, experience creation, and media joint. Scant studies have proposed insights into the sustainable development of antique bookstores from the perspective of urban cultural construction, especially in Asia.