One of the problems with a disruptive technology, which "mail order over the internet" ultimately was, is that companies which are being disrupted rarely make the transition well enough to strongly survive. To a certain extent, it's because of poor execution, but I also think it's because the management has invested heavily in the original marketplace/technology, and are afraid to cannibalize the sales from it with the disruptive technology. Amazon could invest heavily in its website, and ebooks because it didn't have thousands of retail locations to protect. B&N needed a Nook to compete with Amazon, Sony, et. al., but if it was too good, and ebook readers were too attractive, and cannibalize too many print book sales, it hurts the B&N retail stores immensely. If the Kindle cannibalized print books, well, Amazon was already starting to sell anything and everything, and a warehouse is just a place where employees grab stock and package it for delivery.
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