"Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683 Million"

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

If that is true to the exclusion of all else, then they are doomed whatever they do.
A physical bookstore cannot compete purely on price with Amazon.
If they do well, it has to be by offering something people don't get with an online store.

Or addressing a different kind of shopper.

Casual readers and inpulse buyers, for example: "Oh, look! A new book from Nora Roberts! Gotta have it!"

When people talk of big book chains, there is a tendency to "see" B&N, BAM, and Half Price and forget about Hudson even though Hudson probably outsells them all. Around a thousand sites selling just frontlist.

Their success isn't exactly from offering something not available online but by immediacy, being in the right place (airport) at the right time (just before departure) gives them a steady market of impulse shoppers.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

If that is true to the exclusion of all else, then they are doomed whatever they do.
A physical bookstore cannot compete purely on price with Amazon.
If they do well, it has to be by offering something people don't get with an online store.

This is the key and how places like Whole Food and Apple stores keep doing booming business. You have to be focused on what the customer wants and give that customer a reason to come to the store. B&N probably can't compete on pure price, but they can compete on service.

Like a several people earlier in the thread, I use to have a B&N member card and would go once every two weeks to see what new books had come in, so I know what they use to be. They could get there again.

If B&N does sell off their ebook store to Kobo, Kobo might actually have a decent customer base to build from assuming they can push ebooks to both Kobo as well as Nook eBook readers. Competing with Amazon would be a tough battle and would require some financial support from someone with deep pockets, but it's possible if they give customers a reason to buy from them rather than Amazon. I'm not sure what that reason would be though.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Or addressing a different kind of shopper.

Casual readers and inpulse buyers, for example: "Oh, look! A new book from Nora Roberts! Gotta have it!"

When people talk of big book chains, there is a tendency to "see" B&N, BAM, and Half Price and forget about Hudson even though Hudson probably outsells them all. Around a thousand sites selling just frontlist.

Their success isn't exactly from offering something not available online but by immediacy, being in the right place (airport) at the right time (just before departure) gives them a steady market of impulse shoppers.

There are a lot of different business models that can be successful in the book world. It's not one size fits all.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Fbone

B&N will price match their online price in-store, if you are a member. Just go to the cashier with your items and after entering your membership number ask the cashier for the comparison price and they will match it. I've heard somewhere that the registers have it programmed so that it's done quickly. There is no need to show them on your phone.

I was unaware of the change. Even so, why should I have to ask as a member. It should be automatic. In essence, it should be more like Amazon's preorder price guarantee. I just need to buy the book and Amazon automatically ensures I get the lowest price.

But knowing that I can get the online price in the store as a member, gives me a very teeny incentive to maybe someday if I happen to be in the area visit the local B&N.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

If that is true to the exclusion of all else, then they are doomed whatever they do.
A physical bookstore cannot compete purely on price with Amazon.
If they do well, it has to be by offering something people don't get with an online store.

The local store doesn't need to compete with Amazon in terms of pricing. It does need to compete with its own online store as regards pricing.

The local store does need to compete with Amazon in terms of customer service.

One thing a store can do that Amazon cannot is have knowledgeable help. When I worked for Waldenbooks many years ago, the store manager hired me to roam the floor and offer assistance to customers in choosing a book. The reason was that I had a broad reading experience and was familiar with many books and authors, in contrast to my coworkers who were decades younger (generally just out of high school) with narrower interests and little reading experience. That worked out well until the district supervisor caught on to what the manager had done and required her to change my job. The district manager didn't care that the local store had increased sales by 13% over the same quarter of the prior year as a result of what I was doing and what some of my coworkers were learning to do -- it wasn't the way corporate wanted things done.

B&N could hire book-knowledgeable people to staff its stores and gain a reputation for competitive prices and knowledgeable staff. That would help bring people like me back.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

This is the key and how places like Whole Food and Apple stores keep doing booming business. You have to be focused on what the customer wants and give that customer a reason to come to the store. B&N probably can't compete on pure price, but they can compete on service.

Like a several people earlier in the thread, I use to have a B&N member card and would go once every two weeks to see what new books had come in, so I know what they use to be. They could get there again.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rhadin

B&N could hire book-knowledgeable people to staff its stores and gain a reputation for competitive prices and knowledgeable staff. That would help bring people like me back.

Daunt has spoken of this.
But, based on the stories from the UK, he doesn't pay for that knowledge; job satisfaction is supposed to be the reward. The "dialogue" is ongoing.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...y-val-mcdermid

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

This is the key and how places like Whole Food and Apple stores keep doing booming business. ...

Not arguing against your main point, but Whole Foods has kind of hit a brick wall. They're not dying, but they're not really expanding either. And now Amazon is cutting prices again (they had been creeping up).

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/02/busin...zon/index.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmo.../#f80bd254b192

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Not arguing against your main point, but Whole Foods has kind of hit a brick wall. They're not dying, but they're not really expanding either. And now Amazon is cutting prices again (they had been creeping up).

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/02/busin...zon/index.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmo.../#f80bd254b192

There are a lot of people who buy into the business model of expand until you collapse, but that doesn't seem to be a good model to me. I tend to look at it from the stand point of how crowded the store and parking lot are where I go. If a store has a solid and loyal customer base, then it's going to do well. Yea, the stock speculators are all about growth so those stock prices keep going up, but over expansion has destroyed a lot of companies. I do hope that Amazon understand that WholeFoods allure is customer service and quality food, not cheap food.

[rhadin]

I wonder if B&N might not be better off with super-mega regional stores that are destination stores. Have a childcare area with professional childcare staff so parents can book and toy shop; have a similar pet care area.

Include a special dining area for members only that is open for special events with cookbook authors or local chefs preparing signature dishes from cookbooks along with tie-ins to other fiction and nonfiction books.

There are other things that could be done that could make a super-mega regional store a destination place.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rhadin

I wonder if B&N might not be better off with super-mega regional stores that are destination stores. Have a childcare area with professional childcare staff so parents can book and toy shop; have a similar pet care area.

Include a special dining area for members only that is open for special events with cookbook authors or local chefs preparing signature dishes from cookbooks along with tie-ins to other fiction and nonfiction books.

There are other things that could be done that could make a super-mega regional store a destination place.

It works for MicroCenter.
Just 25 stores but each is a magnet for long distances.

https://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx

They're unique and have outlived the likes of CompUSA and Computerland from the 80's.
(They're mostly in suburbs because they're enormous.)

B&N could properly support a couple dozen even bigger stores in the biggest urban areas and supplement them with a chain of much smaller B.Dalton style stores focused on "everywhere books" and a good online operation. Emphasis on good. They are one of the very few with the logistic capabilities to pull it off.

The small stores would serve casuals and avid readers would have online plus the megastores.

Main question is whether Daunt gets online. He's a bookshop guy.
And it takes a total rethink of how bookstores should work, focusing on markets first and books second.