Jiangsu-based publishing giant Phoenix Publishing & Media Group (PPMG) finished runner-up last year in the country's book retail sector in terms of market share, the most market share it has ever achieved, according to the monitoring data from Beijing Open Book Information Technology Co.

PPMG took 3.15 percent of the retail book market in terms of fixed-price books and gained a 3.25 percent market share in terms of discounted prices.

Affected by the COVID-19 outbreak last year, the fixed-price category of the book retail market in the country recorded its first negative result, with a 5.08 percent year-on-year decline.

PPMG made great efforts to develop titles relating to the pandemic and explore various ways to market books to counter the impact of the pandemic last year.