07-27-2013, 05:43 PM | #1 | ||||
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Barnes & Noble between Scylla and Charybdis
When we learned about the recent resignation of their CEO, we knew there was trouble in the air for Barnes & Noble. Seeking Alpha has an article explaining why that is. They cite three market segments in which the bookseller is still operating: tablet market, retail business, and college bookstores. Neither of these markets appear to offer any hope.
In the tablet market, the only upside for Barnes & Noble is Microsoft's recent involvement in the Nook business: Quote:
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Last edited by Alexander Turcic; 07-28-2013 at 02:52 AM. |
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07-27-2013, 07:12 PM | #2 |
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B&N don't make it easy to like them. Over here in the UK, with the recent price slashing I treated myself to a Glowlight (wanted a light 'cos I'm waiting for cataract ops) for reading and a Simple Touch for hacking. They are both great. When the HD+ was reduced I got one so I could read magazines as PDFs in colour. And very good it is too. So then I do my usual trick and try to buy a few spare cables. The 30pin USB plug that the HD+ and HD use is hard to find in the UK. It has turned up on the B&N site as an import which from the photos seems to mean it has a US USB adaptor and the cable for £15 which is a lot when all I want is the cable. I emailed support and got no reply. The HD+ is good to use but the lack of support and shortage of basic cables is worrying. This morning I get a mailshot from nook which says "All Accessories up to 40% Off!" over a picture of HD+ cases and accessories. On investigation is is obvious that "up to 40% Off" also includes 0% off as far as the 30pin cable etc goes.
I've stopped recommending Nook kit to friends. Apart from the Glowlight. |
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07-27-2013, 07:21 PM | #3 |
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I went by a B&N this morning for the first time in several months. It really reminded me of the local independent books stores as they were losing customers to B&N back when B&N first started to take off. EBooks and Amazon are killing B&N.
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07-27-2013, 08:29 PM | #4 |
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There are several things off in the seeking alpha article.
Most prominently, the mischaracterization of Nook Media as a "tablet" business. Nook media is an ebook business. Getting deep into tablets is not all that's wrong with B&N but neither does their future hinge on it. They just need to stop trying to be Apple and start trying to be fictionwise. B&N isn't staring at the abyss just yet. But they can see that point from where they are. The easiest fix is to sell Nook at a deep discount from what they could have cleared last year and focus on figuring out how to fun a pbook business now that they can't throw their weight around. The harder fix is trying to restore Nook's credibility as a viable ebook vendor while still being a part of B&N. Trying to pin all Nook's failings on Lynch isn't going to work while Riggio is still setting policy. Firing one guy isn't going to fix their ebookstore issues, their customer service issues, or their unwarranted sense of indispensability. |
07-27-2013, 08:44 PM | #5 | |
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B&N is facing a problem similar to that which Chapters-Indigo faced in Canada. They sold Kobo to Rakuten, and while still faced with decreasing book sales, they rejigged their product mix to include higher margin products. The result was a profitable year, despite losses in various areas.
See: this clip from a longer article: Quote:
Last edited by taming; 07-27-2013 at 08:45 PM. Reason: spelling |
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07-27-2013, 09:00 PM | #6 |
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https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=218114
BOGO (buy one, get one free sale on Nook ebooks), but.... the catch is you have to go a physical store to get the deal?! You have to choose the books at the web page, go to a store, give the cashier your email address, and then you will receive the codes for the book, to be redeemed online. What is even the point of this? Why don't they give them a physical book or a scone? At least in then going to the store would make sense. This is an example of how the needs of B&N's various divisions are in conflict. Anyway, in this article, the author says "A deal between these companies is the only hope I see for Barnes & Noble's future." So if B&N doesn't make a deal with Microsoft (which is very busy dealing with a restructuring) they're doomed? I don't really see how, even if B&N was bought out by Microsoft, this would help anyone but the investors. B&N might receive a temporary shot of cash, but it wouldn't resolve their main problem, and why would MS want Nook anyway? I never understood that. |
07-27-2013, 09:46 PM | #7 |
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I didn't bother to renew my B&N "membership" (can't remember what they call it) a year after I purchased my first Nook, because it couldn't be used for discounts on ebooks. It was worthwhile for getting a discount on the Nook itself, which is why I originally signed up, and my when we were homeschooling my daughter liked physical books, so that was handy - but as a college student, she's an ebook convert as well (and she chose a Kindle). When I do go into a B&N, I seldom find what I'm looking for. I get emails from B&N constantly, offering me discounts - but they are NEVER applicable to ebooks. When I got to their site looking for a specific book, they're less likely to have it than Amazon is. So I'm less likely to even check them any more, honestly - when I use my Nook I generally read something I've converted to epub using Calibre.
When my first Nook wore out, I did buy GlowTouch, because I got a good deal on it. I'm sorry now that I didn't just go ahead and get a Kindle. |
07-27-2013, 11:21 PM | #8 | |
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I'd like to get a good deal on a Glowlight. Ted |
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07-28-2013, 07:56 AM | #9 |
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The emails they send me are always solely ebooks, e-newspaper subs, e-mags, e-other stuff, and a few overpriced covers. I wonder if they base it on your home country? There isn't much chance for me to pop into my local B&N.
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07-28-2013, 09:09 AM | #10 |
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B&N's Multiple Personalities
Lynch certainly screwed up with the tablets (which in themselves are not so bad) and put the company in a bad position, but Riggio bringing in bean counters who only udnerstand the physical side to run everything is exactly the wrong thing to do. Whether B&B does the electronics themselves or through a deal with someone else, they need to have a robust digital presence that integrates with their stores or they'll just keep circling the drain.
The local B&N where I am appears to be a pretty busy place, a center of community activity, but I hadn't gone in there for quite a long time before I went in 2 1/2 years ago to buy a Nook Classic (which I still use) and hadn't been in there much since then until I went in recently to buy an HD+. In other words, Lynch made me a customer, and if they don't work things out on the digital side they will lose me as a customer. I'm a book lover and avid reader with too many paper books and not enough space to keep them, so it's not that I avoid B&N or any other brick and mortar bookstore. It's just that digital is more convenient and manageable at this point, and usually the occasional paper purchase can be handled just as well (or better) online through (gasp) Amazon or a used seller like Abebooks (which I think is actually owned by the Amazon octopus anyway), though since I bought the Nooks I have bought at least two books (gifts) in the local store. It's too bad about B&N, and I hope I don't end up with two marginal devices as the company continues to unwind. |
07-28-2013, 09:49 AM | #11 |
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The reason that I went to the B&N yesterday was to buy my sister a nook HD+ with 32G for her birthday. I warned her that B&N was getting out the Nook business, but she prefers the nook to the kindle or iPad.
I had the member card for years and it certainly paid for itself over the years. I stopped renewing it a couple of years ago. For a while, I would go to B&N to see what new books were in (one of my biggest gripe about ebook stores is how hard it is to wade through what new books have come in since the last time I checked. It really shouldn't be that hard), look for books that aren't in ebook format (mostly history) and check the blu-ray DVD's. Heck, I even made the effort of checking the B&N ebook store first if I saw a book that I wanted. Unfortunately, at the time, the B&N ebook store rarely had the book, while Amazon did. The bottom line is that content is king. Personally, it was the switch to higher margin products and less in store books that got me to stop going to the B&N on a regular basis. When their history selection got cut to a quarter of what they use to carry, it just wasn't worth bothering with anymore. |
07-28-2013, 02:34 PM | #12 | |
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Clearly, they needed some bean counters, in about the same way that someone with a knife in their stomach needs a doctor. Of course they also need a digital strategy. But not *this* digital strategy; it's a disaster. Probably they should focus on e-readers and their e-bookstore and stop trying to compete with Apple and Google in the tablet space.* They should also try to make better use of their pbookstores and stop being afraid of cannibalizing their own sales. Worries about cannibalizing their own sales are, I think, why so many of their pbook/e-book crossover plans have been so lame.** What if you could go to a B&N store and, while browsing, buy a book you see on your nook (or on your phone with the nook app) quickly and easily, without having to go through the checkout line? Maybe you could tap the book with your device and purchase it that way. Or maybe there is some sort of numerical code that you could quickly enter (maybe from the front page) to purchase the book. Whatever they do, the key is to make it genuinely simple and convenient. Almost as if you cared about giving the customer a genuinely good experience. (And not to worry about a future in which the bookstore is filled with Nook users who just use the store for showrooming and never buy a pbook: the alternative to this future isn't everyone buying pbooks; the alternative is everyone staying at home and buying from Amazon.) *The jury is still out on whether this is a good approach for Amazon. Although Amazon does have a significant music and video presence, which B&N does not. **Steve Jobs: "If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will." |
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07-28-2013, 05:56 PM | #13 | |
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Quote:
One recent quote at Bloomberg's claimed that 25% of FIRE owners hadn't read a single book on the FIRE in the last year. Which means 75% has. It's too early to say FIRE is or isn't a good move for Amazon but so far it looks to be a(t least a small) net plus. B&N's digital strategy was going fine until 2011, when it was all about ebooks and magazines. That is their core business and they need to focus on that. They're not Amazon and they're not Apple and they never should've tried to be them. Last edited by fjtorres; 07-28-2013 at 06:00 PM. |
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