Online sales of books in China increased 30 per cent year-on-year exceeding 16 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) in 2013.

That’s according to data jointly compiled by Horizon Research Constancy Group, the People’s Daily, China Central Television and book-selling websites.

Shoppers aged 20 to 39 search for books through search engine baidu.com more than those from any other age bracket.

Baidu says women search for social science books the most while men mainly search for books on the arts, textbooks, science and literature.