Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
I give. 
What *do* they do then?
Go to Independent stores, online, or to Netflix? How many gave up on books but might come back?
That's the question: will they trade binging for reading or trade Non-chain or online for new, improved B&N?
Consider this:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...hing-industry/
Flat as a board.
Those are grosses, and trade publishing is at most half that, equally flat.
Population has grown 20-25% but sales haven't, despites price hikes.
That's what has me wondering.
Everybody wants a strong B&N but...
How much does publishing gain from a B&N revival if the netflix folks don't come back? Turning B&N into a chain of hyperlocal independents with the support of an efficient purchasing backbone would be great for B&N but will the sales come from netflix or non-chain stores?
How do you turn bingers to readers?
Can it be done?
No idea here. |
This is of course what is called a false choice. The issue isn't can B&N get netflix subscribers to give up Netflix and shop in B&N, the question is can B&N get people who buy books to come into their stores and buy there. The answer to that question is it depends on what they do.
As far as the idea that sales are flat, not sure where statista gets their figures and have no interest in paying a bunch of money for a subscription there, but other sources report that print sales are actually up 1.3% and certainly publishers are reporting profits not loses. Since they end up going to jail if their corporate reports are false, I tend to believe them.
Here is a report of HarperCollins financials on May 10th, 2018
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...ercollins.html
For those who don't want to click it reports that
- revenue rose 6% for the quarter for HarperCollins over the same quarter from previous year.
- sales gains were led by the general and Christian publishing divisions
- Backlist sales did particularly well
- downloadable audiobooks where up 5%
- digitial sales accounted for 22% of consumer revenue
For the first 9 months of fiscal 2018, sales were up 3%