Introduction: Phenomenal Imitation – Why Is Success Hard to Replicate?
Over the past decade, "bookstores like Tsutaya" have sprung up across China. Integrating coffee shops, cultural and creative products, exhibitions, and aesthetic spaces, these bookstores feature exquisite decor and an artistic vibe, once becoming popular check-in spots on social media. However, after the initial wave of popularity came a lull – cases of declining foot traffic, unmet sales per square meter, project closures, and even market withdrawals are common.
Why has the Tsutaya Bookstore model failed to take root in China? Combining the "Five Elements Model of Experience Strategy", this article will analyze why domestic imitators struggle to grasp Tsutaya’s essence, covering aspects from customer value and strategic logic to operational systems.
Copying the Appearance, Not the "People-Centered" Experience Logic
The core of Tsutaya Bookstore is not "space + coffee + books", but "creating lifestyle proposals for specific groups of people".
·Tsutaya defines its target audience with extreme precision: men aged 50 and above, with high cultural literacy and strong purchasing power.
·All spaces and content are curated and arranged around this group’s interests and lifestyle (travel, automobiles, design, music).
By contrast, many domestic bookstores:
·Copy Tsutaya’s display and decoration, yet have no clear idea of who they are serving, resulting in vague user profiles.
·Blindly pursue "good looks" and "artistic charm" without in-depth integration of context and content.
The outcome: Customers "come to look", but have no reason to "stay".
Copying the Combination, Not the "Content-Driven" Operational Foundation
For Tsutaya Bookstore, book sales only serve as a traffic driver; its real revenue structure includes:
·High-margin products (cultural and creative goods, audio-visual products, high-end wine utensils, etc.)
·Membership-based spaces (Tsutaya Study)
·Event operations (cultural salons, art exhibitions)
·Cross-border brand collaborations (automobiles, apparel, home appliances, etc.)
The foundation of all this lies in its strong curation capabilities and lifestyle content operation capabilities.
In contrast, most domestic imitators:
·Have an unclear logic for space mixing, with disconnected business formats and a lack of "integrated storytelling around a single theme".
·Lack a curation team with cultural taste and professional content capabilities.
·Face severe homogeneity in product selection, limited to only cultural and creative goods and best-selling books.
The result: While the diversified business seems rich in form, it lacks conversion capabilities and in-depth content.
Copying the Service Scenarios, Not the "Organization-Driven" Experience System
The service experience at Tsutaya Bookstore is driven by "people" rather than "processes":
·Staff are granted a high degree of autonomy, serving not only as book consultants but also as lifestyle advisors.
·Customers are meticulously categorized for targeted management, with long-term trust relationships built over time.
·Every curator, buyer, and service staff member possesses professional knowledge backgrounds and strong service awareness.
In contrast, many bookstores in China, despite their exquisitely designed scenarios, operate based on "traditional retail logic":
·Service staff lack matching cultural literacy, making it difficult to establish cultural trust with customers.
·Management mechanisms are standardized and homogeneous, resulting in services that lack warmth and proactivity.
·There is no long-term membership system, with focus only on one-time consumption.
The outcome: Disrupted customer experiences and failure to solidify long-term brand-customer relationships.
Ignoring the Foundation of Business Logic: Copying the Model While Detaching It from Its "Soil"
The business model behind Tsutaya includes:
·Relying on large-scale developers and government urban renewal projects (e.g., the Daikanyama Project)
·The strong capabilities of the Culture Convenience Club (CCC) Group in content curation, spatial design, and IP collaboration
·A customer base with high average spending and strong loyalty to support the model
However, many imitators:
·Choose locations with high rent but low foot traffic, making it difficult to sustain the high investment in space
·Serve urban populations that lack strong stickiness and spending power
·Adopt a single business model, failing to build a diversified revenue structure
The result: The model is copied, but the "soil" (i.e., the supporting conditions) is not. Ultimately, these imitators cannot survive.
Insights: Tsutaya’s Success Cannot Be Copied Quickly—Only Deeply Understood
1.Tsutaya is not a "bookstore format" but an "experience system":
Precise audience positioning × Lifestyle proposal × Curated content operation × High-premium conversion model
2.Space is the carrier, experience is the logic, and organization is the source of capability:
Without content capabilities and a capable human resource system, focusing solely on decoration and mixed business formats is doomed to a short lifespan.
3.Experience-driven business innovation requires the integration of five elements: strategy, brand, space, content, and organization:
Tsutaya is worth learning from precisely because it represents a collection of a full set of systematic capabilities.
How Does Tsutaya’s Experience Success Reflect the Five Elements Model of Experience Business?
To more systematically understand the internal structure of Tsutaya Bookstore as a "benchmark case of experience," we can apply the "Five Elements Model of Customer Experience Strategy and Management" for a systematic analysis:
1、Brand PromiseIt
·Does not aim to "sell books" but to be a "lifestyle proposal platform."
·Precise targeting of core groups: mature cultural men, with brand experiences built around their interest dimensions.
2、Experience Strategy
·Replacing the "sales per square meter" orientation with a "time monetization" model, where users’ dwelling time becomes potential conversion capital.
·Building a non-linear experience journey through the trinity of "curation + space + service."
3、Key Moments
·Every touchpoint—from the moment of entry, book selection scenarios, staff recommendations, to late-night reading and event participation—serves as an "emotional anchor."
·Triggering three deep experience motivations: "a sense of being understood," "cultural belonging," and "the joy of exploration."
4、Peak Experience
·Membership spaces (Tsutaya Study), late-night operations, and brand-collaborative curations are all high-perceived value nodes.
·Peak experiences are memorable, transmissible, and accumulative, becoming assets of brand reputation.
5.Experience Management System
·Curator mechanism: organizational guarantee for professional content capabilities.
·Employee empowerment culture: source of initiative in service creation.
·Data tracking and customer insights: underlying logic for operational optimization.
Conclusion: The Path to Building an Experience System for Brands That Transcend Cycles
The essence of Tsutaya Bookstore lies in reshaping the age-old scenario of "retail + reading" through "cultural experience + time economy." It breaks away from the mindset of sales per square meter, sales orientation, and linear operation methods, and fosters brand loyalty with a philosophy of "co-building lifestyles."
Domestic bookstores fail to replicate Tsutaya not because their spaces are less beautiful, but because their strategies are less precise, their systems less profound, and their organizations less robust.
A true experience benchmark is not about copying the "appearance" but building the "system." Tsutaya is worth repeated analysis because it provides a foundational paradigm of "how experience builds a brand."
More importantly, it offers inspiration to all innovators in retail, culture, and commercial spaces: Only when we start from people’s real needs and build experience value with systematic thinking can we truly create brand vitality that transcends cycles!
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