Picking up on the last post about the Nook, I thought it would be timely to assess the overall direction of B&N.The business world is far too rational and money-minded to believe in karma. But looking at B&N, is it fair to say that what you do unto others may eventually be done to you? When Barnes & Noble changed the face of book retailing in the 1990s, with its aggressive rollout of hundreds of superstores nationwide, it drove hundreds of independent bookstores out of business. So, to see the book giant struggle to stand its ground when the juggernaut of Internet takes over the paper books industry makes you think of the karma boomerang theory. Presently the only bright spot seems to be that this company has avoided the fate of Borders which went bankrupt early this year.
Sell, sell, sell-even if it is cookware
As I visited the company’s website recently, I noticed a separate section for cookware. And I couldn’t help wondering why would the largest bookseller turn to selling cookware on its website? Don’t the stores already sell toys, Godiva chocolates, umbrellas and other sundry gift items? My thinking is, maybe they are just happy to be selling something-books or any other items that consumers might buy. Maybe they are trying to go the Amazon way- get out of the brick and mortar model completely and instead, invest all their energies in the online model. When it comes to surviving, having an open mind for all possibilities is not a bad thing.
As part of the survival game, they made some strategic moves recently that were impressive. The latest one being the introduction of the Nook tablet priced at $249, placed to go head-to-head with Amazon’s Fire. The earliest version of the e-reader Nook that competed with Amazon’s Kindle was well received by the market and B&N sales were helped greatly by the product. B&N has been pretty good in keeping with the times and leveraging its existing assets. It recently developed an app for Apple’s iPad making its content available on the popular device. It has also partnered with Samsung to provide content on their tablets. But the question is if these changes are enough to sustain the whole company over a period of time?
The Amazon tsunami
In other news, Amazon has decided to take on publishing. Amazon continues to turn existing business models on their heads and now it’s time for publishing industry to face this force. Publishing industry still works the same way it did for last half a century. I have no doubt that when the Amazon tsunami passes through, the face of publishing will be changed forever just like book retailing business. Hopefully, we will find B&N still standing as this tsunami continues to roll.
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