01-03-2013, 01:36 PM | #16 |
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And one of the "not just books" items that BAM sells ...the B&N NOOK. Go figure.
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01-03-2013, 01:49 PM | #17 |
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I mentioned this on TDR also. B&N was affected by Hurricane Sandy. Stores closed because of no electricity at the beginning on their holiday reporting period. People are still recovering and cleaning up. Hundreds of thousands still unable to return home.
You're not thinking of books while living in temporary housing. No one feels like packing them back up again in a few months. Changes in FEMA policies are reducing purchases of non essential items. While this doesn't explain all their losses it may explain some of them. |
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01-03-2013, 02:50 PM | #18 | |
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01-03-2013, 03:32 PM | #19 | |
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I saw reports that had Amazon sell more FIREs at *launch* last year than B&N had sold tablets up to that point. Since then the indicating are that Kindle tablets have outsold Nook tablets at a 5-to-1 ratio. Which is worse than the ratio of ebook sales, where Kindle outsells Nook in the US by about 2.5 to 1. Mind you, Kindle is doing reasonably well when compared to the non-Apple field but best estimates out there have Apple with 75-80% of the *installed base* in the US. With Kindle running at 7-8% of all tablets in use. In this ocean, Apple is a shark, Amazon is a minnow, and B&N is barely plancton. They might just be out of their league, trying to play the tablet game. |
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01-03-2013, 03:50 PM | #20 |
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I've been pessimistic about B&N for awhile, though I didn't expect low sales like this. If the Nook stumbles, though, B&N is royally screwed.
We'll see how bad the damage really is when they file their quarterly report in February. It's worth noting that Amazon has also had issues this year, and of course, being Amazon, they haven't explained why their margins tanked in Q3. We'll see if they got it together in Q4. |
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01-03-2013, 03:57 PM | #21 |
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I'm wondering why they didn't make their latest Nook tablet more open to Android apps. Kobo did it with their latest tablet, so why couldn't B&N? So it seems to me that B&N shot themselves in the foot with this decision. Their ecosystem isn't rich enough to be a closed one.
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01-03-2013, 04:14 PM | #22 | |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_%26_Noble Besides Amazon and Buy.com online book-selling operations, there is Books-a-million, with 200 stores: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books-A-Million and there is also Half-price books, with 100 stores in 15 states: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Price_Books Then there are the 1000-plus independent bookstores scattered all over. The first problem is that books are readily available all over the US in as many as 30,000 locations: http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-busines...bookstore-2012 This includes department store chains like Walmart, Target, and K-Mart. It includes drugstore chains like Walgreens, CVS, and others. It includes supermarket chains. It also includes a declining but still substantial number of newsstands (1400 in 2008--http://business.highbeam.com/industry-reports/retail/news-dealers-newsstands). And it includes a lot of used-book stores where users can swap used books for credit; usually on a two-for-one basis. Or buy used books at *big* discounts. Many of those operations also handle used CDs, DVDs, and video games. In some regions there's a least one per suburb. In other words, it is far from hard for people to find books. More, it is far from hard to find cheap books. And that is without factoring in the internet. The second problem for B&N is that there are now three book markets in the US: - high-volume "best sellers" and high profile new releases that are available literally *everywhere*, often heavily discounted beyond what any bookstore can match. High volume, low margin. - low-volume mid-list/back-list titles (high-margin, low volume) available only in *some* bookstores but readily available everywhere by special order and online. *Especially* online. - ebooks. Don't need to discuss that here, do we? Look at B&N's report today and you'll find that their storefront sales declined (bad!), their *online* pbook sales declined (very bad), and their Nook hardware sales disappointed, and declined (in dollar value) leaving them with a lot of unsold hardware (very, very bad). The latter is doubly problematic because they now have a lot of money tied up in unsold hardware they can't return (unlike unsold pbooks) and because that hardware was supposed to increase the market for the ebook sales. (The one part of their business that did well, albeit not great--not by previous years' standards.) Declining hardware sales can thus be seen as a leading indicator for declining future US ebook market share if something isn't done *fast*. And since US ebook market share is Nook's primary asset, Nook Media's estimated market value of $1.8 billion (from the Microsoft and Pearson equity sales) is at risk. B&N was already under shareholder pressure to spin off Nook Media and monetize that paper valuation innto actual sharehholder value. I expect the pressure to go up and the paper valuation to go down unless and until B&N IPO's Nook Media as a wholly independent entity or sells a controlling interest to somebody with deep pockets willing and able to take Nook Media blobal before it is too late. The alternative is more of the same and after two full years of the same "disappointing sales" a death spiral is not out of the question. Last edited by fjtorres; 01-03-2013 at 04:18 PM. |
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01-03-2013, 04:19 PM | #23 |
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I liked my Nook Color when I bought it two years ago, but in 2013 the current lineup isn't nearly so attractive. I want the latest and greatest Android OS, so their proprietary approach is much more of a negative now. I don't see a reason to upgrade.
Also, I would really have preferred a 4:3 tablet, which they don't offer. |
01-03-2013, 04:22 PM | #24 | |
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Now try telling it to them. B&N still thinks they're top dog in bookselling. B&N thinks their brand loyalty will see them through. B&N thinks their customers won't miss what they don't see in their app store. They need a re-think. |
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01-03-2013, 04:22 PM | #25 | |
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Also, there are very few independent bookstores in the devastated areas. Few bookstores anywhere. My closest is 50 miles away. And saying you had a "good year" means very little. |
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01-03-2013, 04:34 PM | #26 | |
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All these places discount to the point where they may be cheaper than B&N and even Amazon especially on paperbacks. |
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01-03-2013, 04:38 PM | #27 |
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Another good post by fjtorres.
Online commerce is killing both big box stores and suburban shopping malls (good riddance). If affected shops are unable to make up the difference online, there is nowhere to go but down. |
01-03-2013, 05:45 PM | #28 | |
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They are hoping that the hardware sale drives content sales. If they sold an open device, and people just downloaded the Kindle app and bought books from Amazon instead, that doesn't help them. Basically they are squeezed between a better ecosystem device in the Fire and a better open device in the Nexus 7. That doesn't leave them much chance. |
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01-03-2013, 05:48 PM | #29 | |
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I came here to post this in a new thread, but it fits just as well in this one:
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01-03-2013, 06:06 PM | #30 |
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Sadly when people think ereader, kindle and amazon come to mind. When they think tablet they think apple, nexus, Kindle etc. But not Nook or Barnes and Noble. People wonder why BN is selling other things besides books. Well if PB arent selling as well anymore what else are they supposed to do?? They cant have these large bookstores and just sell Nooks and PB that dont sell.
Sadly I dont think there is a fix to this. BN will most likely disappear and most PB buying will be online or at Big Box store. They just got into the ereader game a bit late I think. |
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