B&N "death spiral"? - Page 2

darryl · 01-29-2013, 03:23 AM

Closing retail stores looks to be a good decision at this point. It's too early to judge yet whether the company is entering its death spiral. This depends not on whether it is closing retail stores but on the viability and implementation of its longer term competitive plans.

jhempel24 · 01-29-2013, 03:41 AM

I used to go into B&N all the time with my Nook 1st Gen to get their awesome cafe deals that came across it. But I don't go in much any more. There are two within about an 8 mile radius of me.

As far as book stores in general go, I've got a half-price books about 5 miles away, and that's about it.

The library is in walking distance (1/4 mile) if I get the inkling to get a real (paper) book to read.

tubemonkey · 01-29-2013, 05:33 AM

The future will look back and wonder why people hung so tenaciously onto paper.

tubemonkey · 01-29-2013, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhempel24

The library is in walking distance (1/4 mile) if I get the inkling to get a real (paper) book to read.

My library is just a fingertip away

Apache · 01-29-2013, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

My library is just a fingertip away

As Ma Bell said, " Let your fingers do the walking".

Apache

kennyc · 01-29-2013, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

The future will look back and wonder why people hung so tenaciously onto paper.

What future?

jbcohen · 01-29-2013, 08:17 AM

What do you think the likelihood of someone buying the Nook side of the business to run independently of the bricks-and-mortar side of the business?

kennyc · 01-29-2013, 08:30 AM

I'd think the nook/ebook future is much more promising than brick and mortar storefronts.

fjtorres · 01-29-2013, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

What do you think the likelihood of someone buying the Nook side of the business to run independently of the bricks-and-mortar side of the business?

It's a near certainty that Nook Media will be spun off at some point to generate money to keep B&N afloat.

They *might* be smart enough to do so while Nook is still values based on its US market share and not wait until it gets valued on its *global* marketshare.

An IPO today might generate $800 million and they'd still retain control of the independent Nook Media. Wait a year and the entire operation might be worth half that.

(No, I don't think much of Nook's international prospects in 2013.)

markbot · 01-29-2013, 09:44 AM

If you aren't growing you are dying. That's just the way it is. This company is on the way out. It doesn't make much sense to devote so much square footage to paper books....it just doesn't. If digital books takeover, who's buying books at the store? This company still isn't profitable with the Nook at a very significant market share. How much volume do they need to be profitable? Twice the current levels? Sales at Nook collapsed in the Christmas quarter, so I don't think the ship is turning around. They aren't just fighting Amazon and Apple, they are fighting every single other tablet maker...including Samsung.

If the digital strategy succeeds then the physical stores are screwed, dragging down the company. If the digital strategy fails it's not like the stores are going to save them.

They can't win. It's over.

kennyc · 01-29-2013, 09:47 AM

Certainly it's over at the current levels. That's why the closing of stores. That doesn't mean that they might not be able to eek out a living in a restricted or specialty market.

ProfCrash · 01-29-2013, 12:19 PM

(giggles) I love that the EPUb vs Mobi debate has led to "the industry standard epub format" It just makes me giggle. Amazon controls a fair amount of the market and they use some variant of Mobi so, no offense, EPub is not the industry standard. And Amazons DRM has been broken, so "easily breakable Adobe-based DRM" is kind of pointless.

What? The thread is yet another on a topic that has been beaten to death, why not giggle at a second beaten to death topic?

Can we start a forum to drop threads on topics that have been beaten to death? The Demise of BN, EPub vs Mobi, Pirating: Good or Bad, Removing DRM: Legal or not, I am sure there are a few more topics that can be sent there.

kennyc · 01-29-2013, 12:21 PM

Everything dies.

AnemicOak · 01-29-2013, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Everything dies.

Or evolves.

kennyc · 01-29-2013, 12:24 PM

Evolution is death

without death there is no evolution

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01-29-2013, 03:23 AM	#16
darryl Wizard Posts: 3,108 Karma: 60231510 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura H2O, Kindle Oasis, Huwei Ascend Mate 7	Closing retail stores looks to be a good decision at this point. It's too early to judge yet whether the company is entering its death spiral. This depends not on whether it is closing retail stores but on the viability and implementation of its longer term competitive plans.

01-29-2013, 03:41 AM	#17
jhempel24 Wizard Posts: 2,157 Karma: 7068605 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, B&N Nook Colro	I used to go into B&N all the time with my Nook 1st Gen to get their awesome cafe deals that came across it. But I don't go in much any more. There are two within about an 8 mile radius of me. As far as book stores in general go, I've got a half-price books about 5 miles away, and that's about it. The library is in walking distance (1/4 mile) if I get the inkling to get a real (paper) book to read.

01-29-2013, 05:33 AM	#18
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,858 Karma: 158733736 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	The future will look back and wonder why people hung so tenaciously onto paper.

01-29-2013, 08:17 AM	#22
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,033 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	What do you think the likelihood of someone buying the Nook side of the business to run independently of the bricks-and-mortar side of the business?

01-29-2013, 08:30 AM	#23
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,930 Karma: 119747553 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2 & PW, Onyx Boox Go6	I'd think the nook/ebook future is much more promising than brick and mortar storefronts.

01-29-2013, 09:44 AM	#25
markbot Guru Posts: 612 Karma: 7511929 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2	If you aren't growing you are dying. That's just the way it is. This company is on the way out. It doesn't make much sense to devote so much square footage to paper books....it just doesn't. If digital books takeover, who's buying books at the store? This company still isn't profitable with the Nook at a very significant market share. How much volume do they need to be profitable? Twice the current levels? Sales at Nook collapsed in the Christmas quarter, so I don't think the ship is turning around. They aren't just fighting Amazon and Apple, they are fighting every single other tablet maker...including Samsung. If the digital strategy succeeds then the physical stores are screwed, dragging down the company. If the digital strategy fails it's not like the stores are going to save them. They can't win. It's over.

01-29-2013, 09:47 AM	#26
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,930 Karma: 119747553 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2 & PW, Onyx Boox Go6	Certainly it's over at the current levels. That's why the closing of stores. That doesn't mean that they might not be able to eek out a living in a restricted or specialty market.

01-29-2013, 12:19 PM	#27
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	(giggles) I love that the EPUb vs Mobi debate has led to "the industry standard epub format" It just makes me giggle. Amazon controls a fair amount of the market and they use some variant of Mobi so, no offense, EPub is not the industry standard. And Amazons DRM has been broken, so "easily breakable Adobe-based DRM" is kind of pointless. What? The thread is yet another on a topic that has been beaten to death, why not giggle at a second beaten to death topic? Can we start a forum to drop threads on topics that have been beaten to death? The Demise of BN, EPub vs Mobi, Pirating: Good or Bad, Removing DRM: Legal or not, I am sure there are a few more topics that can be sent there.

01-29-2013, 12:21 PM	#28
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,930 Karma: 119747553 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2 & PW, Onyx Boox Go6	Everything dies.

01-29-2013, 12:24 PM	#30
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,930 Karma: 119747553 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2 & PW, Onyx Boox Go6	Evolution is death without death there is no evolution