Barnes & Noble today reported holiday sales for the nine-week holiday period ending December 29, 2012.
The Retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com businesses, had revenues of $1.2 billion, decreasing 10.9% over the prior year. This decrease was attributable to an 8.2% decline in comparable store sales, store closures and lower online sales. Core comparable store sales, which exclude sales of NOOK products, decreased 3.1% as compared to the prior year due to lower bookstore traffic. Sales of NOOK products in the Retail segment declined during the holiday period due to lower unit volume and average selling prices.
The NOOK segment, which consists of the company’s digital business (including Readers, digital content and accessories), had revenues of $311 million for the nine-week holiday period, decreasing 12.6% as compared to a year ago. Digital content sales increased 13.1%, while NOOK device unit sales declined during the holiday period as compared to the prior year. Digital content sales are defined to include digital books, digital newsstand, and the apps business.
William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. said int he press release, “NOOK device sales got off to a good start over the Black Friday period, but then fell short of expectations for the balance of holiday. We are examining the root cause of the December shortfall in sales, and will adjust our strategies accordingly going forward.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Look no further that Apple’s iPad and iPad mini, dear confused and floundering CEO. Heavily promote the Barnes & Noble NOOK app and NOOK Kids app for iOS devices, if you wish to survive long term.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Tayster” for the heads up.]
really?
i’m told consumer reports gave it a best buy
How could it not fail. Microsoft invested in it.
My friend was duped into buying two Nook HDs, the sales person told him he will be able to load apps from iTunes
I wonder how many other people were misinformed that way
That should be legally actionable… probably isn’t, though.
All he needs to do is return them and get the money back. B&N accepts returns and gives full money back anyway (no store credit crap).
Take out that extra week and do a real comparison.
Nice way to cover up the actual loss.
Undoubtedly the iPad mini played a role. However, Amazon’s heavy advertising also probably played a role.
Amazon has clearly studied Apple’s advertising. Amazon ads are really excellent.
Apple should run similar ads promoting the Mac. Clients have really been impressed with Amazon’s ads.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57561740-94/amazon-kindle-fire-gains-web-usage-market-share-on-ipad-loss/
The B&W tablets have a point for a single purpose reader, Apple doesn’t have a B&W version for those who don’t like reading on a color screen. There really is no point to a color Nook or Kindle.
Focusing only on a single purpose B&W reader won’t go very far. In fact a single purpose tablet form factor is bound to fail in the long term because people will not want to carry two devices and as soon as they want to do more than reading books, the iPad mini will be their only viable alternative. If Barns & Nobles’ business model is based on book selling, they will need to join the competitors that they can’t beat and make sure purchases on the Nook seamlessly transfer to the IOS app. Amazon may take a longer time to come to the same conclusion but the writting is on the wall.