Barnes & Noble continues to decline - Nook to go?

[Brian G Turner]

B&N suffers another fall in sales as the business becomes weaker:
Barnes & Noble Is Falling Further Behind Amazon

But what especially caught my attention was the suggestion from at least one analyst that the Nook platform should be dumped:

Nook, launched in 2009, held its own against Amazon's Kindle for a while. And Barnes & Noble, which has lost about $1.3 billion in the last six years on the Nook business, says Nook is essential to feeding its e-book and online business. But given the performance of Nook, and the resources it siphons away, one analyst wondered whether it was time to pull the plug on what was once a $933 million a year business. (Nook had sales of $146.5 million last fiscal year.)

"The fact the business is shrinking by so much demonstrates it is a very ineffective platform," Neil Saunders, Managing Director of GlobalData Retail. "B&N would be better to scrap NOOK entirely and focus its efforts in developing a better online platform and apps to support its business."

 

[Wiglaf]

I like nook simply to prevent a kindle monopoly. To save it, I think vertical integration is the only option. Merge with a publishing house. If it is one with operations in London, then perhaps they can relaunch in the UK. London is still a larger publishing (and finincial) center than New York. Penguin & Noble?

 

[Overread]

The problem is that when you go for a digital market its very easy to get a market dominator. On the computer games front we've got this already with Steam. There are other options, but a lot of the stores out there simply sell codes that activate the game on Steam itself. Steam being both the retail front and the download/delivery port.

There are a few stores that operate outside of this, they tend to be owned by big companies with established market base and franchises and thus can expect people to jump through the extra hoop in registering on another site.

The only other major site is GOG which offers DRM free downloads and support for older titles to work on newer machines. They also take a bigger % cut of sales, but with the support side to them its a better overall service.


So that, I think, is what the Nook system has to do; in some way Barns have got to offer something better, significantly so, than what Amazon offers. To be fair the interface and features of the Kindle ereader are pretty darn basic; there's a wealth of options there to beat Amazon; however I think that right now you'd need to invest way more into marketing to actually steal the market hold the Kindle already has. The other aspect is that people bought into e-readers to have one machine-one collection. They don't want another e-reader. They might have a tablet and a phone and a PC which do different things that can access their books; but the e-reader itself they only really see a need to own one.

So it makes sense to consider getting rid of your hardware and focusing on offering an ebook delivery system that's vastly superior; and ebook quality that's superior as well. My impression is that e-readers are loss-leaders anyway or if not they are low profit items and that the real profits come from the ebook sales; so cutting out the expensive hardware isn't daft.

The trick then is marketing; and that's a weakness for books in general. They just don't get the same marketing attention nor potential of other markets; you don't get famous youtube channels doing book reviews; you don't get TV ads; you don't get flashy visuals or such. You might get that if you're the one-in-a-few-years big seller like Harry Potter.

But if you can offer a system that's superior; an application that ties into Kindles easily (ergo your own Calibre system); that lets you trump what Amazon offers in ebook quality; then you might be onto something.



The only other angle is restricted sales, to keep big titles on your system only. If the only place you could get the new Game of Thrones or Discworld was on your system you'd be onto a winner; thing is with Kindle Dominance most authors would rather have that market potential.

 

[Nick B]

If the other e-readers and stores had anything even close to Amazon's devices, apps and customer service, then maybe they'd have a chance. But, frankly, they don't.
As an author and a reader, Amazon do everything right. I don't use a kindle, I use the app, which has and does, everything I need. Their customer service is fast, friendly and good.
The only other service I've used is kobo, which was terrible. Bad formatting (on Lee Child, Scalzi and Pratchett books, so no sp to blame), a poor UI on the app and zero customer service. In fact I ended up losing my entire library permanently. Kobo's responce was it was my own fault. So tough.

Amazon already cornered exclusivity with kdp select. To an already massive market.

This all makes it sound like I'm an Amazon fanboy. I'm not, and would love to see a wider market, but the other retailers and reader apps make poor or non existant attempts at even taking the market seriously. So, as a reader AND an author, I am just being realistic.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Pretty much agree with Nick. I don't want a monopoly situation, but we're heading that way.

 

[The Ace]

My Nook is now a useless paperweight - thanks a lot, B&N !

 

[Cathbad]

One can always use a good paperweight!

 

[Edward M. Grant]

I like nook simply to prevent a kindle monopoly.

B&N used to account for most of my non-Kindle ebook sales. Now most of the sales are Apple and Kobo.

It's dead, Jim, and they did it to themselves. No-one wants to buy books from a store that everyone expects to go out of business any time soon.

 

[BAYLOR]

I was sad to see Borders go under, I will be really depressed to see Barnes and Nobles go under.

It's not fair.

 

[ratsy]

My Nook is now a useless paperweight - thanks a lot, B&N !

That's why I have a paperwhite (TM) instead

I actually just got my first royalty payment from Barnes and Nobel so I hope this doesn't actually happen

 

[Foxbat]

I invested hundreds of pounds in the eighties and nineties in Laser Discs and players and now have a large collection of really big silver coasters.

Remember Blockbuster? They had the opportunity to buy Netflix for £50 million and declined. Where are they now?

But that's what happens with new technology - there's always a period of repositioning. You either take a risk and jump in with your choice and cross your fingers or wait two or three years to see what the dominant species will be.

 

[Vertigo]

My biggest concern is the monopoly issues already mentioned. If the Nook goes then that pretty much leaves only Kindle and Kobo in the dedicated eReader market. And Kobo would likely be the next to go, leaving just Amazon's Kindle. Now this may not be an issue if readers are definitely abandoning dedicated readers in favour of apps on computers, tablets and phones but if not then there is a very real danger epub could completely fall out of use and, apart from Apple, that would leave Amazon with pretty much a monopoly of the digital book market (or at least the DRM) which would be a very unhealthy state of affairs.

Other people could still produce content for the kindle but only in mobi format which, unlike azw, does not have DRM. Great from the reader's perspective but most of the publishers have made it very clear they want DRM protection on their books (despite how easy it is to remove it - just crazy).

I invested hundreds of pounds in the eighties and nineties in Laser Discs and players and now have a large collection of really big silver coasters.

Remember Blockbuster? They had the opportunity to buy Netflix for £50 million and declined. Where are they now?

But that's what happens with new technology - there's always a period of repositioning. You either take a risk and jump in with your choice and cross your fingers or wait two or three years to see what the dominant species will be.

I think (though I'm not sure) that there's one big difference here. When you compare the ebook market with laser disks, eight track, Betamax etc. All of those were, I think, open formats; if kindle ends up pretty much the only player then their format - azw - is not an open format it is owned and fully protected by Amazon.

 

[Foxbat]

I think (though I'm not sure) that there's one big difference here. When you compare the ebook market with laser disks, eight track, Betamax etc. All of those were, I think, open formats; if kindle ends up pretty much the only player then their format - azw - is not an open format it is owned and fully protected by Amazon.

Interestingly, now that you mention it, Betamax was not an open format (Sony owned) and lost out to VHS (which was open).

It's intriguing, however, that azw is not an open format because those propietary formats are the ones that often (historically) lose out to open formats. Will this be a first if Amazon destroys all competition and dominates with its own format?

 

[Vertigo]

Interestingly, now that you mention it, Betamax was not an open format (Sony owned) and lost out to VHS (which was open).

It's intriguing, however, that azw is not an open format because those propietary formats are the ones that often (historically) lose out to open formats. Will this be a first if Amazon destroys all competition and dominates with its own format?

Hm that is an interesting thought. Back then I don't think there was any one company with such a domination of the sale of the content and also that content and the platform were typically sold by different companies. Now we have Amazon dominating the sales of the content - books - and also the platform - kindle - therein lies the difference I think and also the shear ruthless brilliance of Amazon's long term strategy.

 

[Phyrebrat]

This all makes it sound like I'm an Amazon fanboy. I'm not

No, you come across as a dreadfully treated customer, which you are. It's no wonder they're going downhill. Customer service - customer care - is something that would make me swear off a brand for good.

I'd also have tweeted the ins and outs so that they were aware of it in a public arena. Seems to focus customer service and compensation very quickly these days, in my experience.

OT, but for authors (or any professional Tweet- handle users) I'd recommend a second Twitter account for this and personal stuff though.

pH

 

[Cathbad]

I invested hundreds of pounds in the eighties and nineties in Laser Discs and players and now have a large collection of really big silver coasters.

Laser Discs were awesome! I had The Dark Crystal and a half dozen others. I bought mine used but in good condition, then within a year, learned companies would no longer be making them. Quality beat VHS all to 'ell!

 

[Cathbad]

(despite how easy it is to remove it - just crazy).

I don't know how to remove it. And, like me, I don't believe the greater majority of users will care how to.

 

[Foxbat]

Laser Discs were awesome! I had The Dark Crystal and a half dozen others. I bought mine used but in good condition, then within a year, learned companies would no longer be making them. Quality beat VHS all to 'ell!

Yes, they were superb for the time.
And even now CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) discs are almost as good quality as Blu-Ray. Unfortunately, they are (were) also prohibitively expensive

 

[AlexH]

The only other service I've used is kobo, which was terrible. Bad formatting (on Lee Child, Scalzi and Pratchett books, so no sp to blame), a poor UI on the app and zero customer service. In fact I ended up losing my entire library permanently. Kobo's responce was it was my own fault. So tough.

Apart from the first one I owned breaking, which was replaced - I haven't had an issue with Kobo (I lost my highlights and annotations from that first one, but now have a way to back them up - which isn't Kobo-authorised, however). I'm able to find much more for it than for the Kindle, which is restricted to Amazon's format. And the ability to save web pages to it to read later (via the Pocket app) is brilliant.

On the occasions when Amazon is significantly cheaper, I'll buy the e-book from them and convert it to epub - though Amazon have apparently prevented this with the latest Kindle for PC update.

As for the Nook, it didn't even come into my thinking when I was researching e-readers. A bit of Googling shows this was before they exited the UK market, so the marketing can't have been great. It seems existing accounts were transferred to Sainsbury’s, who then exited the market a few months later.

 

[Parson]

Other people could still produce content for the kindle but only in mobi format which, unlike azw, does not have DRM. Great from the reader's perspective but most of the publishers have made it very clear they want DRM protection on their books (despite how easy it is to remove it - just crazy).

I believe that if the mobi format became onerous more people would remove DRM.

I don't know how to remove it. And, like me, I don't believe the greater majority of users will care how to.

I don't either, but I am dead certain I could learn with a few keystrokes, a program, and an hour time investment.