Nook on annual brand deathwatch list

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by charmian

Opening a store and selling products in other countries is expensive. Not to mention the fact that Kindle, Kobo, and Sony are already in a lot of the richer countries (with varying degrees of success).

Given that much of the market share Nook has in the US is because of the B&N stores and the B&N brand, I'm not sure how it would fare in countries where there are no B&N stores and where B&N isn't a famous brand.

They would fare badly without a massive publicity campaign. I'm in the UK and the stupidest thing I saw last year was Waterstones joining up with Amazon and not Barnes and Noble. Why Waterstones woud agree to sell an ereader its own ebook store can't sell a book for is beyond me, and yet Waterstones does sell ePub.

Either B&N were too late to the party or Amazon got in first to block them, but either way joining up with Waterstones or WHSmith (who already sell Kobo) but have made sense. Instead they went into retail stores with no (or non existent) publicity.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Why Waterstones woud agree to sell an ereader its own ebook store can't sell a book for is beyond me

Quick guess: Money.
Waterstones gets a percentage cut of all the ebooks bought on Kindles they sell.
The probably crunched the numbers and figured that percentage (6%, 10%, whatever) times a *big* number was a better deal than the 25% or so they might clear on epubs times a *much* smaller number.
(It is my understanding that Amazon has something like an 80% share of the ereader business in the UK. Much bigger than in the US. And since Waterstones *does* sell epubs they know *exactly* how much of a draw epub is to ebook buyers.)

It is not unlike the deal Kobo offers bookstores worldwide. A one-time sale generates a trickle of enduring revenue. Sell enough of the gadgets and that trickle adds up to decent cash, without the expense of running an ebookstore of their own.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Quick guess: Money.
Waterstones gets a percentage cut of all the ebooks bought on Kindles they sell.
The probably crunched the numbers and figured that percentage (6%, 10%, whatever) times a *big* number was a better deal than the 25% or so they might clear on epubs times a *much* smaller number.
(It is my understanding that Amazon has something like an 80% share of the ereader business in the UK. Much bigger than in the US. And since Waterstones *does* sell epubs they know *exactly* how much of a draw epub is to ebook buyers.)

It is not unlike the deal Kobo offers bookstores worldwide. A one-time sale generates a trickle of enduring revenue. Sell enough of the gadgets and that trickle adds up to decent cash, without the expense of running an ebookstore of their own.

The sad thing is Nook in Waterstones would (and could) have opened up the market for them, given them an established trusted book retailer, instead they sell devices out of Argos, Currys and PC World, where none of the staff have a clue.

They left it far too late to expand into Europe.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

The sad thing is Nook in Waterstones would (and could) have opened up the market for them, given them an established trusted book retailer, instead they sell devices out of Argos, Currys and PC World, where none of the staff have a clue.

They left it far too late to expand into Europe.

They moved at least a year too late.
Even then, the word is it was *Microsoft* that funded the UK expansion. Much like the Win8 Nook app, they only did it on somebody else's dime.
Left to themselves they probably never would have gone international; their management sees to be strictly small pond types.

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

The sad thing is Nook in Waterstones would (and could) have opened up the market for them, given them an established trusted book retailer, instead they sell devices out of Argos, Currys and PC World, where none of the staff have a clue.

They left it far too late to expand into Europe.

On top of that those retailers also sell devices made by their competitors

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Even then, the word is it was *Microsoft* that funded the UK expansion. Much like the Win8 Nook app, they only did it on somebody else's dime.

Not so much that they funded it directly, but they did make it a requirement when putting money in at the time of the original Nook Media deal, so more or less the same thing.

[Rbneader]

If B&N doesn't want to expand past their home market, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. They're a strong business in the US, but not internationally and I don't think they've ever tried to be. In some ways, being able to use the MS money to put up TV adds for the Nook in the US would have been a better thing than expanding internationally into markets where they don't have the customer support structure. Then they'd be more than a distant 2nd in the US market and might not be having to take such losses on the tablets to get them out the door.

[tubemonkey]

The so-called Nook HD "sale" is now in its third week.

Q: when will this "sale" end?

A: when they deplete their stock

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The so-called Nook HD "sale" is now in its third week.

Q: when will this "sale" end?

A: when they deplete their stock

But don't you *dare* call it a clearance!

[Xanthe]

Who's to say they aren't shipping in more stock? We don't know what the sales numbers are.

[charmian]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Who's to say they aren't shipping in more stock? We don't know what the sales numbers are.

Do you mean "manufacturing more tablets"? At these prices I would find it very surprising.

[pidgeon92]

I just got an email from B&N, thanking me for choosing a Nook Simple Touch? I haven't owned a nook since the first incarnation, and I sold that a year or so ago. Anybody else get this goofy email?

[FourGold]

Yup- I got one and so did my husband. Like you ,I haven't had one since the first Nook version, and my husband never owned one.

[kevinp]

And those of us that actually do own Nooks don't get the good emails. I hear people say they get coupons for money off Nooks or whatever. All I get is daily emails wanting to sell me the latest $12.99 ebook or puzzles and games.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by kevinp

And those of us that actually do own Nooks don't get the good emails. I hear people say they get coupons for money off Nooks or whatever. All I get is daily emails wanting to sell me the latest $12.99 ebook or puzzles and games.

Or coupons that exclude Nooks and Nook Books.
Apache