I subscribe to several newsletters and I enjoy reading
about the latest marketing/promotion news as well as what market analysts have
to say about digital publishing.
I was saddened, but not greatly surprised, by the news on
Barnes and Noble. I do believe Barnes and Noble (as well as other large chains)
stores, as we know and love, are going to be a thing of the past. Oh, Barnes
and Noble is not going to disappear this year or even next but there is a
strong indication that is on the path, according to market analysts such as IDC
, The Daily Finance, and reports
from The Bottom Line Even Publishers Lunch had something to say about
it.
Barnes and Noble has been busy the last week with not so great
quarter in sales and now talking about spinning Nook off into a separate
business. There’s a lot of concern that making the Nook a stand alone company
will nail the coffin on the chain’s physical stores and Barnes and Noble will
go the way of Borders.
It’s hard to compete with Amazon and while Barnes and
Noble had a whole quarter in which to bask in the glory of its color android
based Nook e-reader, with Amazon releasing the Kindle Fire and at a more
affordable price, their glory was notably short lived. Nook holds only a small
portion of the market (at one time they were second only to ipad). The iPad is
the dominant media tablet; Amazon definitely is surging ahead of Barnes
and Noble with over four million of the new fires shipped out over the
holidays. Overall, Barnes and Noble hasn’t had a great or even good year.
According to Tom Mainelli, IDC, the United States holds
about 80% of the e-reader market, but he expects that to change. Mainelli also
suggests that Barnes and Noble may not have the financial resources to compete
with Amazon in creating the necessary international presence within the next
few years. Speculation is the spin off is a step in attracting a money partner
for expansion without the high maintenance of physical stores.
So what does that mean for huge book store chains like
Barnes and Noble?
Rick Aristotle Munarriz (aka The Motley Fool) had this to
say:
There's no denying that digital delivery is the
future of media. We saw it happen with music, and now most of the record stores
have closed down. We are seeing it happen with movies, as streaming and
downloads replace physical DVD purchases. Video games are also being dished out
by server farms to Xbox Live users and smartphone owners… Progress is
inevitable. Every quarter finds millions of bibliophiles making the switch to
e-readers, and the migration continues as hardware prices continue to drop.”
He continues:
“This doesn't mean that books will go completely obsolete. We may never see a world where everyone owns an e-reader or tablet. However, the demand for gargantuan dedicated bookstores will dry up -- and with that, Barnes & Noble's livelihood.” You can read the full story here, Why Barnes And Noble Will Never Be Great Again
With
the event of Print On Demand technology, this isn’t surprising. We’ve all seen
the changes for the publishing industry since it has. The demand for digital
delivery is everywhere and changing how we get our media.
Online
stores can offer more variety and less expensive products, than physical stores
and as far as media goes, instant gratification.
We
can rant and rail over this turn of events, but it’s like spitting into the
wind. There is no stopping it.
Meanwhile,
I think I’ll make a trip to Barnes and Noble, grab a cup of coffee, and savor
the smell and sight of all those lovely books. At least I’ll have tales to tell
to my grandchildren.
Once upon a time the only way you could get something to read were bookstores and libraries…huge ones…
