B&N explains their results

[fjtorres]

First, the news:

B&N Worst holiday quarter since 2005:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...er-in-a-decade

Bookstore chain’s same-store sales tumbled 8.3% in the period
Company now expects a decline of 7% for the full year
Sales of Nook content, devices and accessories fell 26 percent last quarter, which ended Jan. 28.

But it's not their fault.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/4051...pt?part=single

Nook is fading because ebooks are fading:

Now, we also have to look at the drop in retail traffic, and our sales are suffering because of traffic declines, some due to the fact that people are not coming to us, but we think more due to the fact that there are less cars in the lot, there are less pedestrians walking by, our retail co-tenants have had sales declines and traffic declines, so that where years ago one retailer’s traffic would--or traffic increases would be the benefit of the others, what we are experiencing today is that the decline of one increases the decline or causes the decline in others.
Now in our particular case, there is a long-term effect of the so-called digital revolution. Had we made a prediction of where retail book selling was going four years ago, it was pretty clear that if the sale of devices and the sale of ebooks continued to escalate as it was, there would be no future in retail book selling. We also know that that increase in sale of digital products has abated and possibly, very possibly might be abating. We know this by our numbers and we know it anecdotally as we speak to people, many, many customers who have come back to books because they prefer reading books and also owning books, as opposed to owning just a dot on their site.

And sales are down because... Well, politics:

About eight or nine months ago, I was the first, we were the first retailers to talk about the effect of the election, this particular unprecedented election cycle and post-election goings-on. There is a profound effect of media on book sales. Many, many books get their start in the media, the newspapers and on television. There are precedents for this throughout the course of our history, when the media becomes preoccupied over a sustained period.
The book authors and the book subjects stop appearing on the evening news programs, certainly the commentator programs, great shows like CBS Sunday Morning, and even one of the biggest drivers of book sales, which is the morning news shows, the morning entertainment shows. All the talk now is about politics, and books have been starved of any presence there. We see cookbooks and health books and fashion and dieting - so, so many books become explosive as a result of their exposure on TV and in the newspapers. That has all but dried up.
Now in addition to that, there has been a measurable effect of this election that we noticed some time ago, and I’ve charted this over a long period of time. I was one to think that this would go away after the election, and it did just a little bit and our sales started to look like they were righting themselves and it seemed like people were going back to their normal lives. Then we had the inauguration and it started again, and even more fiercely than we had experienced before. So what we’re looking at, and I’m sure other retailers are though I haven’t seen much reporting on it, what we’re looking at is a major difference between our sales in the daytime and our sales at night. The conclusion that we could come to and we believe is the case is that people are spending their time at night watching--there’s no question that the viewership of Fox News and CNN and MSNBC’s of the world is way, way up again, subscription to the Times, as you know, way, way up. People are all engaged in this new government and all of the controversies that come with this and the war between the parties.

Lots more at the sources.

[DiapDealer]

B&N have never had to look beyond the end of their own noses for their shortcomings. That's some highly creative garbage they're spouting, though. Telling big stories sure isn't dead, is it?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

B&N have never had to look beyond the end of their own noses for their shortcomings. That's some highly creative garbage they're spouting, though. Telling big stories sure isn't dead, is it?

Riggio might have a better career as a novelist.
Alternate history still sells tons.

[Cinisajoy]

Same whine, different group.
Now where is the cheese?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Riggio might have a better career as a novelist.
Alternate history still sells tons.

That's what I was thinking. That stuff sure reads like fiction!

[rhadin]

Overall, B&N's problem is Riggio. I have said that for years. But I do think B&N has a point about ebooks. I know that here on Mobile Read there is nothing but continuing love for ebooks and disdain for print, but anecdotally, of course, among my friends and family, with the exception of my wife, prior interest in ebooks has waned and they have returned to print. In my own case, except for ebooks that my wife requests, I haven't bought an ebook for myself in nearly a year; I have, however, bought more than 80 hardcovers. My ebook readers sit unused.

One neighbor hasn't bought an ebook in nearly 2 years; she prefers paperbacks. My daughter stopped buying ebooks a little more than a year ago; she, too, prefers paperbacks. My son stopped buying them and gets print books from either my library or the public library. And the list goes on.

B&N, even though MR participants might like to think otherwise, may not be incorrect about ebooks as of declining interest.

Even Kobo is struggling.

[John F]

The 26% (ebook) drop seems pretty disturbing (For B&N). That along with the 8.3% tumble.

I read this:

... Online sales increased 2.2% for the quarter while Nook sales decreased 26%.

I wonder how those two numbers stack up against each other? My first impression/guess is that those ebook customers (the 26%) are going somewhere else for their books?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by rhadin

B&N, even though MR participants might like to think otherwise, may not be incorrect about ebooks as of declining interest.

I suspect only Amazon knows for sure. It would be nice to hear from them on the subject.

[booklover6]

I won't go back to paper books. My children (ages 11 & 14) prefer paper.

[DiapDealer]

I've no problem believing ebooks sales could have temporarily plateaued. I'm just not buying (yet) the purely anecdotal evidence that former ebook aficionados are reverting to pbooks in any relevant numbers. Certainly not "in droves". I can, however, believe that people who were given ereaders as gifts, bought a few ebooks and just never warmed up to them.

Ebooks are a relevant industry. It will continue to be relevant. Just because it might not be supporting a ton of major retailers doesn't mean the horse is going back to the barn.

When books I want to buy are not available as ebooks, I'll start worrying. But for the last 5 years or so, I've had the choice of buying anything I've been remotely interested in in the Kindle and Epub formats.

Talk to me about a reversion to pbooks when publishers aren't releasing 100% of their midlist/big-name new releases as ebooks. That's the only thing that will convince me.

[fjtorres]

Riggio is by his own admission using Nook numbers and what people tell *him*. Like who is going to tell him it is only Nook that is tanking?

Best available numbers are that Amazon ebook sales grew 4% and Kindle Unlimited grew significantly.

Here's some perspective:

https://janefriedman.com/9-statistic...s-know-amazon/

Newer numbers are due shortly.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Riggio is by his own admission using Nook numbers and what people tell *him*. Like who is going to tell him it is only Nook that is tanking?

Why is Nook tanking? It seems like it should be so much better off than it is. It felt like through the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight they were on par with Kindle.

For me, two bad Nook decisions were arbitrarily changing their DRM scheme and the Nook Glowlight which omitted SD card and only allowed 512MB for sideloading.

It seems like after those, Nook nosedived. But I might be taking things I noticed and attaching them to an unrelated event.

The current Nook Glowlight Plus is a very piece piece of hardware. If my Kobo were to suddenly go toes up, I'd consider the Nook as a replacement.

[FizzyWater]

I always felt that B&N was "more expensive" overall than the other guys on book prices. Sometimes, even when the other guys put the books on sale, B&N wouldn't.

But even when I was purchasing there to support a competitor to Amazon, once they removed the ability to download ebooks from their website, I stopped. I used up a gift card and used Nook Study to download the books, and I've never gone back.

[MGlitch]

Oh where did BN go wrong...

It could have been when they failed miserably to attract third party developers to the Nook Color/Nook Tablet

Or maybe it was their choice of shoddy design for the power cables for those devices

Or maybe it was when they flooded their own market with so many various Nook HD varieties

Or maybe it was not giving a clear statement to the press about their plans, there was a period there where their mission statement on Nook tablets changed every few months

Or maybe it was not releasing an eink device on par with Amazon and Kobo for years, the Nook Glowlight caught up with devices two years older than it. The Glowlight Plus caught up to devices about a year older.

Or maybe it was removing all ability to download purchased ebooks via supported means (yes you can download using Nook Study/Nook for PC/Nook for Mac, but none of those are supported and are unreliable).

Or maybe it was when they released the Glowlight Plus without the ability to sideload public library books

Or maybe it was the lackluster Nook tablet they just released, and had to pull because of 'faulty power bricks'

Or maybe it was their lack of response to the press in general.

Or maybe it was the inconsistent training of in-store staff between stores

Or maybe it was the inconsistent quality of the customer service / online chat


Nah it must be a decline in ebooks.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Why is Nook tanking? It seems like it should be so much better off than it is. It felt like through the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight they were on par with Kindle.

For me, two bad Nook decisions were arbitrarily changing their DRM scheme and the Nook Glowlight which omitted SD card and only allowed 512MB for sideloading.

It seems like after those, Nook nosedived. But I might be taking things I noticed and attaching them to an unrelated event.

The current Nook Glowlight Plus is a very piece piece of hardware. If my Kobo were to suddenly go toes up, I'd consider the Nook as a replacement.

Your read is pretty accurate.

More generally, Nook is in a classic death spiral of the self-fulfilling prophesy type.

The short version is that they screwed up inventory control in 2012 and ended up with a zillion unsold NSTs. They tried desperately to move them and the desperation gave the impression they were tanking, which scared off buyers. Who stopped buying. This brought more bad news and scared off even more would be buyers. It's been five years of steady declines and bad news of all kinds. Nothing but bad news. By now all they talk about is reducing losses instead of offering up hope of recovery.

And, of course, talking about ebooks "abating" does nothing to convince their remaining loyalists to stick with Nook.