Quote:
Originally Posted by Fbone
And possible greater discounting by B&N. Some of their holiday promotions seemed to be more aggressive than years past.
People could be buying more but spending less. It's a shame unit sales are not reported.
Looking at my purchases this year, every ebook I bought was below cost and a loss for the retailer.
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Could be.
But the report specifically cites reduced traffic during the holidays.
Quote:
Entering December, the Company was encouraged by the comparable store sales improvements throughout the second quarter and into November. However, sales trends softened in December, primarily due to lower traffic.
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Generally traffic is a proxy for unit sales.
So if they truly were discounting like crazy either the message didn't get out or sales would've been worse without it.
The trend of ever lower year to year traffic is a reflection of the fact that holiday pbook gifting reportedly isn't as prevalent as it used to be in past decades. The bookworms that used to be recipients have moved on to digital, making pbook gifting riskier.
