Quote:
Originally Posted by Rebo
What caught my eye is the quote that is next to the Barnes & Nobles sales fall article. It says
" Please don't sell B&N stock short! It has become my library, with the best magazine selection ever. I flip through at least two dozen magazines and read at least one book there with my Starbucks coffee. My average stay is two hours. ”
Is this person asking the stock holders to subsidize his favorite past time at B&N? Well, to be fair, he does buy coffee.
No wonder the B&N brick and mortar store is going out of business since people are treating it like a non-profit library, instead of a bookstore. Borders and B&N located in my neighborhood are always jam packed, especially the cafe area; however, the foot traffic to the cashier line is rather lacking comparatively. I believe a lot of people like to take advantage of the product try out and other amenities offered by the brick and mortar retail stores even though they'll eventually buy from the internet vendors. With this trend, this guy won’t be seeing his neighborhood B&N library around for much longer; in fact, he won't be seeing any brick and mortar stores around for much longer except probably Walmart or Costco or of course, Louis Vitton.
|
It doesn't have to be this way. We've discussed methods for B&M bookstores to thrive in an eBook world but it would take some effort by the book stores and the cooperation of the publishers. My favorite idea that gets discussed at least once a year is to sell eBooks in the bookstore. You take your selection to the cash register, pay the clerk and the clerk puts an SD card in the cash register and downloads the book to it. That book is encrypted using a seed based on the store number, cash register number and exact date and time of the sale, and encrypted to that SD card.
You would read these books with the card in your reader. It decrypts and renders anything that's put in it, and ideally can read whatever format it finds (they are essentially all DRM free after being decrypted as described). Owners could then loan the SD carded books, give them away or sell them just like a paper book.
eBook downloads would continue as they are now but they would be rented, not sold, with the agreement clearly stated before purchase. This method is more convenient but you don't own the book.
In every other way the B&M experience would be just like it is now, with coffee shop, racks, helpful staff, bright lights, SD Chip Library containers, everything the same. Except maybe they'd also have a rack full of different brands of book readers, covers, slip cases, etc. for sale.