B&N CEO Fired

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by ApK

Well, we don't have an SSDD forum to move it to.

It is somewhat amusing that I have never seen a "Similar Threads" section full of threads so freakishly similar as the one at the bottom of this page.

The Similar Threads section was rather hysterical this time, yes.

(SSDD means, politely, "Same Stuff, Different Day" but you get geek points if your first thought was "Single Sided, Double Density.")

Bit before my time, I'm afraid. But I appreciate the thought.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

You're confusing B&N with Borders!

Actually, we had both for a while. B&N was a much better experience, at least in my neck of the woods.

[murg]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

You're confusing B&N with Borders!

Give it a year or two, and they'll both be out of business.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by murg

Give it a year or two, and they'll both be out of business.

Or the randy Penguin will buy B&N.

[MGlitch]

I'm sure Boires is crying all the way to the bank after the large signing bonus he got upon taking the job.

This move doesn't surprise me at all, B&N is run by fools who really just want to try and get all the money they can before the ship sinks. They've got no interest in saving the company or giving the customer what they want.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

This move doesn't surprise me at all, B&N is run by fools who really just want to try and get all the money they can before the ship sinks. They've got no interest in saving the company or giving the customer what they want.

You're assuming it can be saved, a proposition that seems doubtful at best.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I'm sure Boires is crying all the way to the bank after the large signing bonus he got upon taking the job.

And depending on the contract he had in place, he may very well have been paid for the remainder of his contact - sort of a "leaving bonus".

[basschick]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I'm sure Boires is crying all the way to the bank after the large signing bonus he got upon taking the job.

This move doesn't surprise me at all, B&N is run by fools who really just want to try and get all the money they can before the ship sinks. They've got no interest in saving the company or giving the customer what they want.

it seems to me that almost no businesses consider giving their customers what they want - all they want to do is attract... well... everybody who ISN'T a current customer, rather than nurturing their existing customers and making them want to come back and invite interested friends and coworkers.

i used to buy tons of new books very regularly, and would spend hours browsing checking out what to buy next. i don't think i ever left without buying some books. then the stores nearest us started having more trendy books and started having less books from many, many series in stock. ordering books in took longer and longer from both stores, with barnes and noble ahead as they often failed to ever get my in-print orders in stock at all. as little gadgets and toys and gift items filled the stores, there were less actual books, longer lines and more people looking at the gifts and toys, and at some point i lost interest and started ordering online. and i've loved book stores all my life, but the stores pretty much ruined it for me and a lot of my reading buddies.

[AnemicOak]

Seems some publishers are not happy about the news...

For many in the publishing industry, Boire's dismissal comes as a shock, and a disappointment. A number of insiders said that, ultimately, the CEO shuffle will cause further problems for the embattled retailer.

The head of one large publisher said he was angered to hear the news, pointing out that finding and building a new executive team will set B&N back by six months. "I need them to execute on the ground" during the holidays, this publisher said.

Another high level publishing executive said he was surprised about the move since Boire "seemed to have a plan."

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...ron-boire.html

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by basschick

i used to buy tons of new books very regularly, and would spend hours browsing checking out what to buy next. i don't think i ever left without buying some books. then the stores nearest us started having more trendy books and started having less books from many, many series in stock...

This was pretty much me to some extent.

I remember the day that B&N made me a first time customer of Amazon (in the late 90's). They didn't have the newest book in a very popular series on release day (crazy, but I'd gone in just assuming they would have it) and was told that they wouldn't be stocking the book (and many others of the months new releases) until the end of that month or beginning of the next. But they could of course order it for me in which case I could wait for them to get it and then have to drive to the store a second time to pick it up. I went home and checked Amazon, who I'd heard of but never purchased from, and they not only had it for immediate shipment to my door, but it was discounted as well and I'd have it within the week. I still bought books from B&N, but more and more found myself just ordering it and not bothering to make a trip to a store which was becoming less and less fun to visit.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

This was pretty much me to some extent.

I remember the day that B&N made me a first time customer of Amazon (in the late 90's). They didn't have the newest book in a very popular series on release day (crazy, but I'd gone in just assuming they would have it) and was told that they wouldn't be stocking the book (and many others of the months new releases) until the end of that month or beginning of the next. But they could of course order it for me in which case I could wait for them to get it and then have to drive to the store a second time to pick it up. I went home and checked Amazon, who I'd heard of but never purchased from, and they not only had it for immediate shipment to my door, but it was discounted as well and I'd have it within the week. I still bought books from B&N, but more and more found myself just ordering it and not bothering to make a trip to a store which was becoming less and less fun to visit.

That's about the time that I became an Amazon customer (2001 according to Amazon). Visiting B&N was part of my Saturday morning routine twice a month for a lot longer than that, but it eventually dwindled down to once a month, then finally I stopped going.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by basschick

it seems to me that almost no businesses consider giving their customers what they want - all they want to do is attract... well... everybody who ISN'T a current customer, rather than nurturing their existing customers and making them want to come back and invite interested friends and coworkers.
...

That does seem to be a failing of American businesses these days. Everyone chases massive growth rather than nurture their existing customer base. A lot of that is driven by the focus on investor returns (i.e. drive the stock prices up so I can cash out) rather than traditional measurements such as profit or dividends. The term killing the golden goose applies, I think.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Seems some publishers are not happy about the news...

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...ron-boire.html

You wouldn't expect them to be. Eye-rolling and hand-wringing was predictable.
(What with the holiday season coming up and the way their buzz-driven cash cow front list is "performing".)

They pushed Borders into liquidation thinking it would fortify B&N and provide the "balance" they sought between B&M sales and online (Amazon). More recently they've used Agency part deux to try to shift readers to print.

For all their efforts to fortify print the result of their efforts is that half the Borders share migrated to Amazon right away and the other half, along with a third of B&N's, has followed over the past five years. B&N's current share is roughly where Borders was when the BPHs decided it wasn't worth propping up.

Obviously they can't afford to push B&N over the cliff like they did with Borders so their options are limited. Other than the randy penguin nobody else has the money or will needed to buy out Riggio. At least not until B&N is literally at death's door and at that point it might not even be worth propping up.

No matter what they do or don't do the core problem remains: a chain of 600 giant book warehouses is not a viable proposition in today's retail environment. At this point it is not impossible that newstands and airport kiosks are moving more of the "right kind" of books (frontlist) than B&N.

This is one more problem the BPHs can't afford right now.

But it does give them a scapegoat for their next quarterly financials...

Edit:

The PW note ends with:

Looking to the future, another insider said he hoped B&N's next CEO will be better suited to the company and "will have book experience," as opposed to just "general retailing" experience.

And who has more "book experience" than Riggio?
They still don't get it: "book experience" thinking is what's killing B&N.
"Stock it and they will come" doesn't work. They need to go to the readers instead of hoping they come in.

[fjtorres]

The BBC has a report on the obvious followup:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37111392

US bookstore chain Barnes & Noble has sacked its chief executive Ronald Boire after less than one year on the job, sending its share price falling.
The company's share price fell more than 13% to an eight-month low.

The departure of Mr Boire has raised questions about the company's ability to manage the challenges facing the business.
Over the last two years, Barnes & Noble's sales have fallen as it loses out to lower prices from rivals such as Amazon.
Amazon's Kindle e-reader has also outperformed Barnes & Noble's Nook, which the company is phasing out due to its poor performance.
Sales for the Nook, both the content and device itself, dropped 27.4% in the 2016 fiscal year, which ended in April.
Barnes & Noble operates 640 stores in the US. At its peak in the early 2000s there were around 800.
Once a new boss is found, Barnes & Noble will have had five chief executives in just four years.

[Teyrnon]

Originally Posted by Connallmac

You're assuming it can be saved, a proposition that seems doubtful at best.

Can't it be saved? It seems to me that there is still a future for brick and mortar bookstores though not in their current form. It'd take forward thinking, creativity, a passion for book selling, and a willingness to embrace changing paradigms. Granted we're unlikely to see those qualities coming from a big corporate chain.