The contrasting fortunes of Barnes & Noble and Borders can be attributed to several key factors:
- Adaptation to Market Changes:
- Barnes & Noble successfully adapted to the rise of digital media and e-commerce by investing in its own e-reader, the Nook, and developing an online sales platform. This helped them maintain relevance in an increasingly digital market.
- Borders, on the other hand, was slower to adapt. They initially partnered with Amazon for online sales instead of developing their own platform, which hurt their competitiveness as e-commerce grew. - Store Experience:
- Barnes
The contrasting fortunes of Barnes & Noble and Borders can be attributed to several key factors:
- Adaptation to Market Changes:
- Barnes & Noble successfully adapted to the rise of digital media and e-commerce by investing in its own e-reader, the Nook, and developing an online sales platform. This helped them maintain relevance in an increasingly digital market.
- Borders, on the other hand, was slower to adapt. They initially partnered with Amazon for online sales instead of developing their own platform, which hurt their competitiveness as e-commerce grew. - Store Experience:
- Barnes & Noble focused on creating a welcoming in-store experience, offering cafes, events, and a broad selection of books and merchandise. This helped to build customer loyalty and attract foot traffic.
- Borders struggled with its store experience and failed to create a strong community presence, which diminished customer engagement. - Financial Management:
- Barnes & Noble managed its finances more effectively, maintaining a leaner operation and being more strategic about store locations and inventory.
- Borders expanded aggressively, leading to overextension and high operating costs. Their financial management issues contributed to their inability to sustain profitability. - Embracing Technology:
- Barnes & Noble embraced technology by integrating its physical and online stores, allowing for better inventory management and customer service.
- Borders lagged in adopting new technologies and failed to create a cohesive strategy between its physical and online presence. - Market Trends:
- The overall trend toward online shopping and digital consumption favored companies that could pivot quickly. Barnes & Noble's ability to offer both physical books and digital options allowed them to capture a wider audience.
- Borders' failure to innovate and adapt to these trends ultimately led to its decline.
In summary, Barnes & Noble's proactive approach to changing market dynamics, emphasis on customer experience, prudent financial management, and technological adaptation allowed it to thrive while Borders fell behind and eventually filed for bankruptcy.
This is a question that many of us at Borders asked ourselves frequently and I think the answer is not a simple one. As someone who has given this a tremendous amount of thought and was Director of Merchandise Planning & Analysis for many years, I've outlined my assessment below:
- Failure to adequately address the internet sales channel and the subsequent ebook market. Specifically, the decision to outsource Borders.com to Amazon.com. To be fair, Borders.com was costing the company millions of dollars in losses each year ($20m I think when they decided to outsource) and one could argue that the
This is a question that many of us at Borders asked ourselves frequently and I think the answer is not a simple one. As someone who has given this a tremendous amount of thought and was Director of Merchandise Planning & Analysis for many years, I've outlined my assessment below:
- Failure to adequately address the internet sales channel and the subsequent ebook market. Specifically, the decision to outsource Borders.com to Amazon.com. To be fair, Borders.com was costing the company millions of dollars in losses each year ($20m I think when they decided to outsource) and one could argue that the outsourcing solution was a case of letting the most efficient etailing organization (Amazon.com) handle the job and turn a big negative into a profitable business. In the short-term, this saved a lot of money. In the long run, the internet is too important to outsource in this manner and Borders' branding, multi-channel strategy, and customer base suffered. They also dropped the ball on ebooks, but by the time this became an issue they were just trying to figure out how to keep the whole house from burning down around them, so I find it more understandable.
- Poor real estate strategy - Borders leased space that was too large, the storefronts did not compare well to B&N, and they were complacent in picking and relocating existing stores to the best locations. Some of this is subjective as I don't have great data to back this up - just my own educated assessment based on observation.
- Over-investment in music - while this was a big plus for Borders in the early to mid 90's, it was a disaster in the long run. This is why the stores were too big once the music business cratered - stores were sized and modeled to provide a large music CD business which largely disappeared. In addition, infrastructure was sized to support this business, including a dedicated warehouse distribution facility. This last part has been addressed over time, but soaked up money, time, and energy. Music was also part of what made Borders a destination for many customers, so when music sales tanked, other product categories' sales suffered as well.
- Over-reliance on assortment size to compete as opposed to efficient operations - Borders was renowned for its wide and quality assortment of titles. The very large assortment size was an advantage early on before Amazon. However, by its very nature the internet was better at quickly and efficiently connecting customers with obscure titles and bringing the "long tail' to market. Thus, competing on assortment size was especially vulnerable to internet retailing and Borders suffered disproportionately as the "long tail" customers abandoned them.
- Failure to build efficient systems and processes - While Borders' legendary "expert system" was considered cutting edge and an advantage early on, the company failed to successfully build upon this foundation and create new, better assortment, replenishment, and supply chain systems and processes to keep pace with the changing state of technology and efficient retail operations. B&N invested considerable time/energy/money through the 90's in systems and processes. To provide one example, a lower ranked title that sells out in a B&N will be replenished from a central warehouse within 2-3 days. The same process could take up to 16 weeks for Borders. Borders sought to upgrade systems with two large efforts in the 00's: first one was a home grown effort called Common Systems. Second was a "buy and integrate" project to implement Retek and E3. Both failed spectacularly. The Retek effort dramatically hurt the Walden chain, the only business unit that was managed by the system. With both of these efforts, large sums of money and, perhaps more importantly, human resources and time were squandered.
- Branding failure - In addition to the Borders.com problem, Borders never reached the mindshare that Barnes & Noble did for a variety of reasons. Also, Barnes & Noble secured the exclusive U.S. Starbucks partnership, a major branding and traffic-driving win for them.
There are several types of small business insurance that cater to different aspects of a business's operations. Here are a few of the most common types of insurance:
- General Liability Insurance: Essential for businesses with customer interactions, it can cover claims of bodily injury, property damage, reputational harm, and advertising injury. For example, if a customer slips and falls in your store, this insurance can cover their medical bills.
- Professional Liability Insurance: This coverage is important for business that provide professional services or advice. It helps protect against claims
There are several types of small business insurance that cater to different aspects of a business's operations. Here are a few of the most common types of insurance:
- General Liability Insurance: Essential for businesses with customer interactions, it can cover claims of bodily injury, property damage, reputational harm, and advertising injury. For example, if a customer slips and falls in your store, this insurance can cover their medical bills.
- Professional Liability Insurance: This coverage is important for business that provide professional services or advice. It helps protect against claims of negligence, mistakes or failure to deliver services as promised.
- Workers' Compensation Insurance: Mandatory in most states, it provides benefits for work-related injuries or illnesses, including medical care, lost wages, and disability benefits. For instance, if an employee gets tendonitis from lifting heavy boxes, this coverage can help with their treatment.
- Commercial Property Insurance: Important for businesses with physical assets, it helps cover property damage from theft, fire, and natural disasters. This ensures you can repair or replace damaged property without bearing the full financial burden.
- Commercial Auto Insurance: Essential for businesses that use vehicles for operations, this helps cover damages and liabilities arising from accidents involving company vehicles. It can include coverage for bodily injury, property damage, and medical payments.
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I would like to add just one anecdote... I was an employee of Borders right before and for a couple years after they were acquired by Kmart.
I doubt many people remember that acquisition (Kmart later divested of Borders), but it spoke volumes to me about what Borders was, and what it wanted to be. I came from the independent book store world, and I committed apostasy in that world by going to work for Borders. Anyway, the Borders staff at that time was mostly made up of what I would call "book store people" like me. In the months after the acquisition, the company made a number of in-store cha
I would like to add just one anecdote... I was an employee of Borders right before and for a couple years after they were acquired by Kmart.
I doubt many people remember that acquisition (Kmart later divested of Borders), but it spoke volumes to me about what Borders was, and what it wanted to be. I came from the independent book store world, and I committed apostasy in that world by going to work for Borders. Anyway, the Borders staff at that time was mostly made up of what I would call "book store people" like me. In the months after the acquisition, the company made a number of in-store changes that I think ultimately hurt the business.
They cut staff. They hired anti-"shrink" consultants and subsequently started doing things like employee bag checks at the end of every shift. They switched from nice paper bags that felt very "book store" to cheap plastic ones. All of this made me and my colleagues hate working there.
This wasn't ultimately what did the company in, but it was a harbinger I think.
Barnes & Noble:
I think B&N was one of the first brick-and-mortar retailers to realize the existential threat that Amazon might pose to their business. This was back when Amazon only sold books and wasn’t even on Walmart’s radar.
B&N essentially hedged their traditional brick-and-mortar business against the new business model that Amazon was creating, by copying Amazon’s every move.
Amazon sells books online. B&N starts selling books online.
Amazon offers free shipping with minimum purchase. B&N does the same.
Amazon offers 1-Click Shopping. B&N offers 2-Click shopping (because Amazon had patented
Barnes & Noble:
I think B&N was one of the first brick-and-mortar retailers to realize the existential threat that Amazon might pose to their business. This was back when Amazon only sold books and wasn’t even on Walmart’s radar.
B&N essentially hedged their traditional brick-and-mortar business against the new business model that Amazon was creating, by copying Amazon’s every move.
Amazon sells books online. B&N starts selling books online.
Amazon offers free shipping with minimum purchase. B&N does the same.
Amazon offers 1-Click Shopping. B&N offers 2-Click shopping (because Amazon had patented the 1-Click Shopping, and this was while all the other online retailers forced people to use shopping carts with slow checkout)
Amazon created a portable e-book reader. B&N creates a portable e-book reader.
As you can see, B&N went out of their way to aggressively compete with Amazon. Even though Amazon was leading the way in this brand new world of eCommerce, B&N was close at its tails. If B&N’s brick-and-mortar business ever started really suffering, they could have just shut down all their physical stores and become a pure online shop like Amazon. On the other hand, if Amazon went belly up (like a lot dot-coms) they could return to focusing on brick-and-mortar. Keep one foot in both worlds was a good hedge for B&N. And while they were never innovative enough to beat Amazon, mirroring their competitor was good enough to keep them in business.
Borders:
The Borders story is different, because rather than try to copy Amazon, Borders doubled-down on brick-and-mortar.
I think their downfall was largely because they over-expanded at a time when tea leaves pointed to the Internet being the future of retail.
There were so MANY Borders stores — it seemed like they were in every shopping center imaginable. In contrast, B&N stores seemed quite sparse, although in general higher quality in terms of design and layout. And I didn’t see new B&N stores popping up everywhere in the late 90’s and early 2000’s like I did Borders stores.
Borders seemed to completely ignore Amazon, and only tried to compete with B&N and other independent brick-and-mortar book stores (many of which it successfully put out of business).
It also seemed to blissfully ignore the lesson of so many once dominant now deceased brick-and-mortar chains — Tower Records, Egghead Software, Circuit City, etc — retailers who were largely killed by the Internet.
But even without an Internet strategy, I think that Borders could have stayed alive if they had slowed their expansion, and instead focused on having a smaller number of high-sale stores with loyal customers. Shortly before its death, I felt that Borders had become kind of like a McDonalds chain — a very generic feeling experience, where if I happened to be bored I might walk into a Borders and look around, but it wasn’t the kind of place I’d go out of my way to visit. This was exacerbated when Borders started devoting a lot of its retail space to stuff like music.
The book competition really began back in the dot-com days of the late 90s. While working at CMP Media (TechWeb) a few years before collaborating with other leaders of the online retail space like 1-800-FLOWERS.com, Barnes and Noble called me in to explore a role with them. The impressive decisions of Jeff Bezos and growing early adoption by the marketplace made me decline -- even though I was rather impressed (until they spun-off the online division from the main company, which I considered a ridiculous trend).
Flash forward and B&N certainly has faced their share of challenges, predominantly
The book competition really began back in the dot-com days of the late 90s. While working at CMP Media (TechWeb) a few years before collaborating with other leaders of the online retail space like 1-800-FLOWERS.com, Barnes and Noble called me in to explore a role with them. The impressive decisions of Jeff Bezos and growing early adoption by the marketplace made me decline -- even though I was rather impressed (until they spun-off the online division from the main company, which I considered a ridiculous trend).
Flash forward and B&N certainly has faced their share of challenges, predominantly in battling Amazon ... and now with the proliferation of electronic reading. Many of you have highlighted core areas that established more hurdles for bricks-n-mortar players, including Borders.
Borders really competed more with B&N than Amazon in many ways, which was a risky move since innovation was changing how people lived, shopped, communicated and did almost everything else. I think they were sustainable before this, since bookstores became a place to aggregate or sit down to get some work done. As more areas became Wi-Fi outlets (especially coffee houses, fast-food chains and Starbucks), the battle for those potential customers via "the cool hang-out philosophy" grew.
Let's be honest - B&N is an incredible brand and distinguishes itself as the top tier in the space. They offer competitive prices (usually), both online and off. They've also (with some uphill issues) moved aggressively against Amazon rather than fighting against the others that had shrinking market share. Personally, aside from some local shops, the only other book retailer that I've had a solid experience at (from working there, to grabbing coffee to taking my kids to find new books or play) was Books-A-Million.
When a market thrives and transforms, consolidation is part of online and offline retail evolution. We'll see many others face these same situations in the next few years. Hopefully, many of them will establish a solid connection between their various touch points to make a more cohesive and rewarding customer experience at any link in the channel. Furthermore, with the next generation of consumers growing up in a time of instant access and purchasing, this transition will not be slowing. Just look at the recent report from eMarketer below:
Online sales continue to outperform total retail
In 2010, US retail ecommerce sales (excluding travel) rebounded from the recession, posting 14.8% growth, compared with only 1.6% growth in 2009. In 2011, online sales will reach $188 billion, although growth will moderate to 13.7%, resuming a prerecession trend of slower growth that signals a maturing sales channel.
“Even with the tapering growth rates projected, online sales are expected to rise by over $100 billion from 2010 to 2015,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, “US Retail Ecommerce Forecast: Growth Opportunities in a Maturing Channel.” “Three major developments will spur this growth: mobile commerce, social commerce and daily deal sites.”
For 2011, eMarketer has broken out online sales by quarter to show how annual growth of 13.7% is achieved. Assuming the economy continues to recover, unleashing pent-up consumer demand, ecommerce will grow at an increasing annual rate until Q4 when sales growth slows due to comparison with a very strong online holiday shopping season in Q4 2010.
Retail ecommerce sales are growing much faster than overall US retail sales, according to eMarketer’s estimates and figures from the US Department of Commerce, and ecommerce sales continued to post growth throughout the recession.
“When compared with total retail sales it is obvious that ecommerce is producing superior results,” said Grau.
This means that, while the overwhelming majority of all US retail sales still happen in stores, ecommerce is grabbing a steadily larger share of the pie. In 2010, online sales accounted for 5.8% of total retail sales (excluding automobile, gasoline station and fuel dealers), up from 3.7% in 2005.
In addition, these low percentages mask the fact that online penetration rates vary widely by product category. For example, auto parts are rarely bought online, but computer hardware and software had online penetration above 50% in 2010, according to Forrester.
Where do I start?
I’m a huge financial nerd, and have spent an embarrassing amount of time talking to people about their money habits.
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Where do I start?
I’m a huge financial nerd, and have spent an embarrassing amount of time talking to people about their money habits.
Here are the biggest mistakes people are making and how to fix them:
Not having a separate high interest savings account
Having a separate account allows you to see the results of all your hard work and keep your money separate so you're less tempted to spend it.
Plus with rates above 5.00%, the interest you can earn compared to most banks really adds up.
Here is a list of the top savings accounts available today. Deposit $5 before moving on because this is one of the biggest mistakes and easiest ones to fix.
Overpaying on car insurance
You’ve heard it a million times before, but the average American family still overspends by $417/year on car insurance.
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Consistently being in debt
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Missing out on free money to invest
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Have a separate savings account
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Mark Evans made some good points above, but Jonathan Brill was spot on. B&N became customer-centric and borders didn't.
B&N gave me Starbucks in the bookstore; Borders didn't.
B&N gave me an easy place to buy books online; Borders didn't. B&N gave me handy computer kiosks to check stock and get a map to the book I wanted; Borders didn't (at least in my area). I had to hunt down an employee, who then had to go check their computer.
Borders.com did give me one great thing after a while, the ability to check for a book in stock and reserve at a store near me. However, this also means that I of
Mark Evans made some good points above, but Jonathan Brill was spot on. B&N became customer-centric and borders didn't.
B&N gave me Starbucks in the bookstore; Borders didn't.
B&N gave me an easy place to buy books online; Borders didn't. B&N gave me handy computer kiosks to check stock and get a map to the book I wanted; Borders didn't (at least in my area). I had to hunt down an employee, who then had to go check their computer.
Borders.com did give me one great thing after a while, the ability to check for a book in stock and reserve at a store near me. However, this also means that I often only go to Borders when they have exactly what I want. Otherwise, i go browse at my local B&N.
Truth be told, I simply liked the atmosphere in B&N better. It seemed more like a fun place to search for reading material. Borders, at least in my area, was always kind of stuffy.
I don't know much about B&N and Borders financial statements but I can share my opinion as a customer. I have been a card-holding "B&N Member" for 6 years. While I appreciate the Kindle and NookBook, I'm a girl who loves the way new books smell... so until they stop making them, I will keep buying books in their traditional form.
When I lived in California several years ago, Borders was much closer geographically and yet I preferred to order B&N online or travel 20 minutes further to get there. It seemed like my Borders was a tremendous store, with one rep at the front registers and one re
I don't know much about B&N and Borders financial statements but I can share my opinion as a customer. I have been a card-holding "B&N Member" for 6 years. While I appreciate the Kindle and NookBook, I'm a girl who loves the way new books smell... so until they stop making them, I will keep buying books in their traditional form.
When I lived in California several years ago, Borders was much closer geographically and yet I preferred to order B&N online or travel 20 minutes further to get there. It seemed like my Borders was a tremendous store, with one rep at the front registers and one rep at the customer service desk, and no reps on the floor to help with anything. Said customer service desk always had a line of at least 5 shoppers, which led me to believe that the store was a lot less navigable than B&N, where I can walk up to customer service desk and never have more than one person in front of me on line. B&N associates seem to know more about the books and very often I find my rep recommending another author based on the book I've asked them to help me located. When I was a child, that's how bookstores used to be and I find that tradition comforting, which I'm sure a lot of other customers would agree with.
Also, B&N members get discounts on everything in the store express shipping on online orders no matter how small your purchase is which makes life much easier... and amen to the poster who mentioned Starbucks locations inside B&N. If I can get a latte with my book purchase, I'm a happy girl. :)
According to this (http://yhoo.it/ibHkYr), the answer basically comes down to decision-making. While Barnes also struggled with sales for a few years, it started to make a comeback recently, thanks to its adaptability and e-reader sales. Unlike Borders, which has outsourced its online sales (to Amazon) and e-readers (Kobo is from a Canadian company, I believe), Barnes kept everything in-house, so to speak. Furthermore, Borders is still struggling with cashflow and it has, once again, reneged on its payments to its vendors. And, even though I appreciate the free membership to its rewards pr
According to this (http://yhoo.it/ibHkYr), the answer basically comes down to decision-making. While Barnes also struggled with sales for a few years, it started to make a comeback recently, thanks to its adaptability and e-reader sales. Unlike Borders, which has outsourced its online sales (to Amazon) and e-readers (Kobo is from a Canadian company, I believe), Barnes kept everything in-house, so to speak. Furthermore, Borders is still struggling with cashflow and it has, once again, reneged on its payments to its vendors. And, even though I appreciate the free membership to its rewards program as a customer, issuing that many discounts to that many people is bound to cause financial problems for the individual stores, which can lead to greater ramifications for the company.
Ultimately, Barnes is just a better place to be. Their couches are more comfortable, and in most cases ubiquitous. I think what Borders forgot is that there are really only three ways to sell a book:
- Carry that which a customer already wants
- Use persuasive marketing to convince customer that they want something
- Allow a customer to experiment with a book, hope its good enough that they take it home with them.
I don't know that Borders was any worse than Barnes in anything but 'allowing' a customer to experiment.
I think a lot of what Jonathan Brill said hits it on the head:
If I'm going to pay
Ultimately, Barnes is just a better place to be. Their couches are more comfortable, and in most cases ubiquitous. I think what Borders forgot is that there are really only three ways to sell a book:
- Carry that which a customer already wants
- Use persuasive marketing to convince customer that they want something
- Allow a customer to experiment with a book, hope its good enough that they take it home with them.
I don't know that Borders was any worse than Barnes in anything but 'allowing' a customer to experiment.
I think a lot of what Jonathan Brill said hits it on the head:
If I'm going to pay Borders 30% more for a book in their store (plus tax) than I'd pay at Amazon or BN.com, I really need to see some value add. It needs to be more than a store.
It's a great place to be. It's just not a great place to buy books.
I once met a man who drove a modest Toyota Corolla, wore beat-up sneakers, and looked like he’d lived the same way for decades. But what really caught my attention was when he casually mentioned he was retired at 45 with more money than he could ever spend. I couldn’t help but ask, “How did you do it?”
He smiled and said, “The secret to saving money is knowing where to look for the waste—and car insurance is one of the easiest places to start.”
He then walked me through a few strategies that I’d never thought of before. Here’s what I learned:
1. Make insurance companies fight for your business
Mos
I once met a man who drove a modest Toyota Corolla, wore beat-up sneakers, and looked like he’d lived the same way for decades. But what really caught my attention was when he casually mentioned he was retired at 45 with more money than he could ever spend. I couldn’t help but ask, “How did you do it?”
He smiled and said, “The secret to saving money is knowing where to look for the waste—and car insurance is one of the easiest places to start.”
He then walked me through a few strategies that I’d never thought of before. Here’s what I learned:
1. Make insurance companies fight for your business
Most people just stick with the same insurer year after year, but that’s what the companies are counting on. This guy used tools like Coverage.com to compare rates every time his policy came up for renewal. It only took him a few minutes, and he said he’d saved hundreds each year by letting insurers compete for his business.
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2. Take advantage of safe driver programs
He mentioned that some companies reward good drivers with significant discounts. By signing up for a program that tracked his driving habits for just a month, he qualified for a lower rate. “It’s like a test where you already know the answers,” he joked.
You can find a list of insurance companies offering safe driver discounts here and start saving on your next policy.
3. Bundle your policies
He bundled his auto insurance with his home insurance and saved big. “Most companies will give you a discount if you combine your policies with them. It’s easy money,” he explained. If you haven’t bundled yet, ask your insurer what discounts they offer—or look for new ones that do.
4. Drop coverage you don’t need
He also emphasized reassessing coverage every year. If your car isn’t worth much anymore, it might be time to drop collision or comprehensive coverage. “You shouldn’t be paying more to insure the car than it’s worth,” he said.
5. Look for hidden fees or overpriced add-ons
One of his final tips was to avoid extras like roadside assistance, which can often be purchased elsewhere for less. “It’s those little fees you don’t think about that add up,” he warned.
The Secret? Stop Overpaying
The real “secret” isn’t about cutting corners—it’s about being proactive. Car insurance companies are counting on you to stay complacent, but with tools like Coverage.com and a little effort, you can make sure you’re only paying for what you need—and saving hundreds in the process.
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Saving money on auto insurance doesn’t have to be complicated—you just have to know where to look. If you'd like to support my work, feel free to use the links in this post—they help me continue creating valuable content.
For me, the biggest problem I saw with Borders was that once they started moving away from their niche -- the "quirky" chain with the "expert" workers -- there was almost nothing to distinguish themselves from B&N.
I've been comparing Borders' plight to Montgomery Ward. Wards went from having a solid niche as a department store to chasing after Sears to having its core market (the lower middle class) leached away from them, first by Wal-Mart, then by Target. They could never get a business plan together to find their niche or delineate themselves from Sears. The one time they did, when they pu
For me, the biggest problem I saw with Borders was that once they started moving away from their niche -- the "quirky" chain with the "expert" workers -- there was almost nothing to distinguish themselves from B&N.
I've been comparing Borders' plight to Montgomery Ward. Wards went from having a solid niche as a department store to chasing after Sears to having its core market (the lower middle class) leached away from them, first by Wal-Mart, then by Target. They could never get a business plan together to find their niche or delineate themselves from Sears. The one time they did, when they pushed the Electric Avenue division (selling better electronics than Wal-Mart at a comparable price), they had the wind knocked out of them by the rise of Best Buy.
Ultimately, Wards sputtered to an end in 2001, 50 years after they started losing the plot. With Borders, it took a mere 10, but in that 10 you saw everything that Borders stood for sucked away from them, both by their own choices (eliminating the "experts," handing Borders.com to Amazon) and by changes in the market (not only Amazon but Powell's taking away their "immense selection" niche, the collapse of the music industry and the rise of iTunes). Wards held on because they were in so many businesses it took a long time for each component to fail. Borders lost music, then lost the Internet, then lost the e-reader market that is now chipping away at the print market.
The amazing thing is that Borders hung on until 2011 -- and thanks to a capital infusion they may still hang on a couple years longer. Their demise has been predicted since at least 2007.
Aside from the many good reasons already offered, financial management. B&N paid down debt while Borders loaded up on debt, about $1b. The cost of servicing that debt load limited their ability to invest in future strategic initiatives. They also made the huge error of turning over their online business to amazon and while they eventually severed that deal it did cost them 6 years of market time
From the perspective of a customer of Borders, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, I can tell you that a) BN.com is competitive with Amazon which probably gives them a significant competitive advantage and b) The experience of shopping at Borders is not far and away better than shopping at Barnes & Noble, something it would have to be for me to ignore that they lack the convenience of free tax and shipping on an item I don't find in a store.
If I'm going to pay Borders 30% more for a book in their store (plus tax) than I'd pay at Amazon or BN.com, I really need to see some value add. It needs to be mor
From the perspective of a customer of Borders, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, I can tell you that a) BN.com is competitive with Amazon which probably gives them a significant competitive advantage and b) The experience of shopping at Borders is not far and away better than shopping at Barnes & Noble, something it would have to be for me to ignore that they lack the convenience of free tax and shipping on an item I don't find in a store.
If I'm going to pay Borders 30% more for a book in their store (plus tax) than I'd pay at Amazon or BN.com, I really need to see some value add. It needs to be more than a store. The free wi-fi and coffee shop are nice but the merchandising and check-out processes are conventional at best. On multiple occasions I'd walk a couple miles to a Borders and salivate over the anticipated indulgence of a compulsive purchase and I'd have trouble finding the book (which was confirmed to be in stock, but nobody could find it) or there's a long line with a bunch of people on the floor but just one on the register or (multiple times) no plastic bags to carry the books out, etc.
I love hanging out at Borders to drink the coffee and use the wifi to download Kindle books on my iPad. It's a great place to be. It's just not a great place to buy books.
Mark Evans perspective as a company & industry insider is very valuable and his answer is spot on. It's worth building on a couple of his points in so far as how they impact the industry as a whole:
1. E-Commerce: as this sector evolves it's splintering in a way that's very similar to what's happened in physical retailing: big-box retailers who operate and huge scale, offering customers attractive discounts in order to trade at massive volumes (i.e. Amazon) and literally thousands of niche, specialized boutiques offering high value, often limited edition products who can take advantage of the
Mark Evans perspective as a company & industry insider is very valuable and his answer is spot on. It's worth building on a couple of his points in so far as how they impact the industry as a whole:
1. E-Commerce: as this sector evolves it's splintering in a way that's very similar to what's happened in physical retailing: big-box retailers who operate and huge scale, offering customers attractive discounts in order to trade at massive volumes (i.e. Amazon) and literally thousands of niche, specialized boutiques offering high value, often limited edition products who can take advantage of the customer discovery tools that the internet offers to trade at high margins. Therefore as a brick-and-mortar retailer looking to make the transition to click-and-mortar you're faced the difficult decision of which way to go - for small, local retailers the option is clear, but for nationwide retailers there's the obvious desire to want to replicate that large footprint online in order to leverage the brand's strength - however, this comes at substantial expense and requires tremendous scale to be successful - Borders' decision to out-source to Amazon was, commercially if not strategically, the right decision at the time they made it.
2. The purpose of physical stores:
What purpose do brick and mortar stores serve when, in most markets around the world, online stores that offer a range vastly larger than any physical store can possibly hold?
This is a question that, while I'm sure Borders' management asked themselves, they never adequately addressed.
While other segments of the retail sector face some of the same issues bookstores arguably offer their customers more than just a consumer product because of the nature of books themselves and, more importantly, the knowledge they contain - in many cases bookstores became cultural community hubs offering free wi-fi, liberal in-store reading policy, on-site cafes, author readings and other events.I think there are two key elements that need to be considered:
- Size: by minimizing the size of the store the economic & commercial factors involved in running a bookstore: rent, staffing, stock investment, other overheads are kept to a minimum meaning that if location and customer profiling are appropriate the chances of success are maximized.
- Curation: instead of the superstore strategy of trying to cater to every possible customer (something that Amazon is significantly better at) these stores classify themselves and their customers by the range that they carry with the defining characteristic being that of discovery.
Discovery, helping customers find things they didn't know they were looking for, in my opinion, is really the one thing that brick and mortar stores can do to set themselves apart from online retailers as it's something that, for the time being, e-commerce sites aren't particularly good at. The web is great if you already know what you're looking for but it's not great if you're just "window shopping", in many ways due to the nearly unlimited abundance of choice online.
It's clear that if you're a retailer with a significant investment into physical assets (stores, stock, people) you're not only going to have to figure out your digital strategy but also ask yourself how and where you can actually add value.
Barnes & Noble is due to close nearly 300 stores; and they are doing poorly on comp to comp sales. Borders was, at one time, a better bookseller than B&N; but both were late adopters to selling on-line; and B&N was a late adopter to ebooks. In the end, both companies failed to refocus their business and now B&N is struggling to find profitability.
Given the popularity of the excellent answer by Mark Evans, I think we do need a perspective that emphasizes the cultural and management problems at Borders. Nothing personal against Mark, but as a long-time member of the management team, he was part of the problem.
- Borders, unlike B&N, was acquired and led by a long series of "big box" retailers and retail managers who were not book people. They destroyed the company's book-oriented personnel culture beginning in the 1990s.
- Employee morale was tragic and awful. For an abundance of examples, scan the LiveJournal archives at http://community.liv
Given the popularity of the excellent answer by Mark Evans, I think we do need a perspective that emphasizes the cultural and management problems at Borders. Nothing personal against Mark, but as a long-time member of the management team, he was part of the problem.
- Borders, unlike B&N, was acquired and led by a long series of "big box" retailers and retail managers who were not book people. They destroyed the company's book-oriented personnel culture beginning in the 1990s.
- Employee morale was tragic and awful. For an abundance of examples, scan the LiveJournal archives at http://community.livejournal.com/iworkatborders
Essentially, it does boil down to a long history of poor management. They lost hundreds of millions of dollars every year for the last several years. You should only lose that much money one year in a row. If you keep doing it, your managers are incompetent.
I consider myself a book nerd. I spend about $200+ a month on books. Here's why I prefered Borders in the beginning but later switched most of my business to Barnes and Noble.
When Borders first came out, I thought it was way better than Barnes of Nobles. Here's why: 1) Amazing selection of books 2) great food and coffee in the cafe 3) freedom to read books in the cafe for up to 3 hours. The first borders would only validate 3 hours for a purchase.
I started prefering Barnes & Noble about the time that Borders went for Seattle's Finest. At this time, I noticed a significant reduction i
I consider myself a book nerd. I spend about $200+ a month on books. Here's why I prefered Borders in the beginning but later switched most of my business to Barnes and Noble.
When Borders first came out, I thought it was way better than Barnes of Nobles. Here's why: 1) Amazing selection of books 2) great food and coffee in the cafe 3) freedom to read books in the cafe for up to 3 hours. The first borders would only validate 3 hours for a purchase.
I started prefering Barnes & Noble about the time that Borders went for Seattle's Finest. At this time, I noticed a significant reduction in the quality of the food offered. Sometimes, I was told that I couldn't hang out in the cafe with more than 3 books. I also got annoyed with their policy that you couldn't combine coupons. Barnes & Noble gave me an easy 10% of on all books (based on a membership fee) which I could combine with other coupons, had Starbucks coffee, and even had an extra 5% off if I used my B&N Mastercard.
I was open to spending 30% more on books because I was doing pretty good financially, I like having a book right away, and I like reading a book in my hand rather than reading a chapter through my computer.
Of course, all that changed when the economy went south. I found myself emphasizing price more than convenience. When I compared Amazon's prices to Barnes & Noble or to Borders, even with 20% discounts, I found Amazon was better. I could get free shipping if I spent over $25 in books. I started going to Half-Price books, a used book store chain in the Bay Area and getting my paperbacks and hardbacks for 50% off. Even Amazon often had Half-Price books beat with its 1 cent + $3.99 shipping fee for some used books.
In Fremont, where I live, Barnes and Nobles closed its store in December, 2010. The local Borders in Union City and in Fremont are closing now. Even with the 20% off that Borders is offering at its store that's closing, Amazon still had the better price for 3 of the books I wanted. The nearest Barnes and Noble is 30 minutes away so I'll probably end up spending my $100/month on books at either Amazon of Half-Price books. I tried the iPad book reader but I guess it's just not for me. I'll go to Kindle when it goes color.
If my experience is common, it's no wonder that amazon is doing great, Barnes & Noble is doing ok, and Borders is closing. I am very sad. I was sad when Stacey's, big San Francisco store closed. I am sad that Borders is closing. I am sad that all the book superstores are going away.
Interesting comments: my experience is that B&N is a far nicer place to be than Borders.
I was just in a B&N in Seattle area, looking for a book. Someone found me by a
computer kiosk, peppered me with questions about the book, made a couple
of related suggestions, looked up the book, told me apologetically they
didn't have the book, but recommended two more in the section.
I was going to leave, but the recommendations were so interesting I ended
up in that section. Five minutes later he came by with printout reviews
of the book I was interested in, plus estimated arrival times.
Borders neve
Interesting comments: my experience is that B&N is a far nicer place to be than Borders.
I was just in a B&N in Seattle area, looking for a book. Someone found me by a
computer kiosk, peppered me with questions about the book, made a couple
of related suggestions, looked up the book, told me apologetically they
didn't have the book, but recommended two more in the section.
I was going to leave, but the recommendations were so interesting I ended
up in that section. Five minutes later he came by with printout reviews
of the book I was interested in, plus estimated arrival times.
Borders never had that sort of service, even when they were well-funded.
B&N has worked at using buyers to help curate what they're selling; not to
the extent of a good/great local bookstore, but certainly far more than
Borders which I felt only wished to sell me shrink-wrapped Star Wars
calendars near the end there.
These are all customer experience related; there's also stock market reality. In that world, not having your own e-reader has equalled doomed. B&N has made a credible play at having an exciting next-gen e-reader, and they are getting some market appreciation for that fact. Without the Nook, I think Amazon would be positioned even more strongly vis-a-vis market pricing. Borders, as was noted above, outsourced a key area that would demand innovation. Oops.
One thing that I haven't seen anyone mention is that Barnes and Noble also made deals with a lot of universities to have a location on campus. This means a lot of students are buying textbooks exclusively through Barnes and Noble. Considering the cost of some textbooks, I don't think this extra source of income is something that can be ignored when examining why Barnes and Noble have managed to stick around. I still think they'll eventually die off as well, it will just take them a little bit longer.
Both chains have considered this and B&N has tested the concept. There are many reasons why they haven't taken this route:
- Most used book stores have a buyer who knows the product well and what to buy and what not to buy (and what prices make sense.) Having someone trustworthy and knowledgeable at 500–800 individual locations to manage this process is very difficult. For the same reasons, product buying is done centrally rather than at the stores.
- The operational aspects of purchasing used books, adding to system inventory, shelving properly, and selling correctly (sku cannot be shared with n
Both chains have considered this and B&N has tested the concept. There are many reasons why they haven't taken this route:
- Most used book stores have a buyer who knows the product well and what to buy and what not to buy (and what prices make sense.) Having someone trustworthy and knowledgeable at 500–800 individual locations to manage this process is very difficult. For the same reasons, product buying is done centrally rather than at the stores.
- The operational aspects of purchasing used books, adding to system inventory, shelving properly, and selling correctly (sku cannot be shared with new title) makes it very challenging to drop this into a regular chain bookstore.
- All new books are returnable to publishers for full credit. If they get into used books, inventory is stuck in the stores and cannot be easily liquidated, and it is very costly to ship books around. This can cause operational issues.
- Publishers hate used books because of the cannibalization of sales from new books. Thus, typical advertising and marketing support that publishers offer would not accompany any of this business and publisher relationships could be adversely affected.
- Finally, there can be an aesthetic issue to combining used books into a shiny new superbookstore.
Numbers 1–3 are probably most relevant. It is true that advances in technology in recent years have made the idea much more possible than in the past. Also, some chains have been successful in selling or introducing used books (Hastings, Half-Priced Books).
Thanks for the A2A!
I haven't been with the company for a while (three or four years), but from my experience, in the short run, a reduction in the workforce will seem like a net gain. When you suddenly don't have to pay all of those employees, those salaries will make the stock reports look just peachy. Sadly, having a short staff will eventually come to bite you in the butt.
All of the jobs that are necessary to run a store, still have to be carried out, but with fewer people to do the work. Books still have to be received and shelved. Sections still have to be maintained and displays set up.
Thanks for the A2A!
I haven't been with the company for a while (three or four years), but from my experience, in the short run, a reduction in the workforce will seem like a net gain. When you suddenly don't have to pay all of those employees, those salaries will make the stock reports look just peachy. Sadly, having a short staff will eventually come to bite you in the butt.
All of the jobs that are necessary to run a store, still have to be carried out, but with fewer people to do the work. Books still have to be received and shelved. Sections still have to be maintained and displays set up. Special orders and returns still need to be processed. Customers still need to be serviced and stores still need to be recovered at the end of the day.
So, corporate has reduced staff, but hasn't reduced the amount of work that needs to be done. The expected outcome is poorly-run stores, and low employee morale. The changes are obvious every time I visit my local store. I see people waiting at customer service, with no employees in sight. Poorly-maintained sections with books out of order. Stacks of books alongside the comfy chairs and in the men’s room. What most people don’t know is that every book that's out of place costs the company money. If a customer can't find it, then she won't buy it. If a book that's supposed to be in Science Fiction is in a pile on a table in the café, then a bookseller can't sell it. If a customer can't have the book in her hand right now, the chances are that she'll order it online, and there's no guarantee that she'll order it from bn.com, either.
I understand that in some ways it's hard for the brick-and-mortar stores to compete with virtual ones. Online, with a couple of taps, a customer can easily order a book to be shipped to her house, or she can download an ebook. The advantages that the actual stores had was that they could put a physical copy of a title into a customer’s hand right now, often even when the customer had no idea what she wanted. Actual booksellers could also up sell and suggestive sell, too. If a customer had a good experience, and if she started to develope a relationship with the staff, then she would return again and again. Good customer relations are a much surer guarantee of repeat patronage than membership cards are.
I remember when a customer came into our store asking for a couple of books for her highschooler. She wasn't sure of the titles, but she knew that one was something like, The Racist Birds, the other was something like The Crazy Birds. She also knew that they had been made into movies. Having worked in the industry for a while, and being familiar with school reading lists because of it, I knew that she was looking for To Kill a Mockingbird and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. When she left the store, she left with a smile, both books, and a matching pair of Sparknotes. Not only that, but she became a return customer. Incidents like that probably happen less often when the store is a wreck and your employees are overwhelmed, and they're nigh impossible online.
Does this mark the company’s death knell? I’m not convinced that it is. I'm also not convinced that slashing staff in order to make the stockholder’s quarterly reports look better is a surefire way to keep the doors open either.
After years on the decline, Barnes & Noble’s sales are up, its costs are down — and the same people who for decades saw the superchain as a supervillain are celebrating its success.
In the past, the book-selling empire, with 600 outposts across all 50 states, was seen by many readers, writers and book lovers as strong-arming publishers and gobbling up independent stores in its quest for market share.
Today, virtually the entire publishing industry is rooting for Barnes & Noble — including most independent booksellers. Its unique role in the book ecosystem, where it helps readers discover new tit
After years on the decline, Barnes & Noble’s sales are up, its costs are down — and the same people who for decades saw the superchain as a supervillain are celebrating its success.
In the past, the book-selling empire, with 600 outposts across all 50 states, was seen by many readers, writers and book lovers as strong-arming publishers and gobbling up independent stores in its quest for market share.
Today, virtually the entire publishing industry is rooting for Barnes & Noble — including most independent booksellers. Its unique role in the book ecosystem, where it helps readers discover new titles and publishers stay invested in physical stores, makes it an essential anchor in a world upended by online sales and a much larger player: Amazon.
“It would be a disaster if they went out of business,” said Jane Dystel, a literary agent with clients including Colleen Hoover, who has four books on this week’s New York Times best-seller list. “There’s a real fear that without this book chain, the print business would be way off.”
Barnes & Noble is taking its time dying, but unless the company reverses course, it will go bankrupt in the next 10 years. B&N has a chance of saving itself if it goes back to the old standard of customer service - knowledgeable booksellers who can “hand sell” - take the time to discuss books with customers - which was B&N’s one big marketing advantage over Amazon.
Neither — at least not in the foreseeable future.
They just got a fat wad of investment money and a new CEO last year. They’re closing some underperforming stores (like their famous one on the Upper East Side in Manhattan), but overall they’re doing a makeover of many/most others. The new CEO envisions a different kind of B&N that’s more community focused and involved.
Ironically, almost 15 years ago when I was president of the large professional association Publishers & Writers of San Diego, B&N was touting their new Community Relations Managers. I had lunch with Marcella Smith, who at the time
Neither — at least not in the foreseeable future.
They just got a fat wad of investment money and a new CEO last year. They’re closing some underperforming stores (like their famous one on the Upper East Side in Manhattan), but overall they’re doing a makeover of many/most others. The new CEO envisions a different kind of B&N that’s more community focused and involved.
Ironically, almost 15 years ago when I was president of the large professional association Publishers & Writers of San Diego, B&N was touting their new Community Relations Managers. I had lunch with Marcella Smith, who at the time was B&N’s Director of Small Press Relations, and we talked about the big vision. These CRMs would foster connections with local authors and publishing, making B&N more “indie friendly” and less corporate behemoth. But it never really happened. It did to some degree, but not quite to the vision. And then when Borders closed and B&N contracted in the subsequent years, I think B&N got conservative and retreated on its CRM thinking.
Now, it seems it’s back in a bigger way. Or at least we’ll see.
Thanks for the A2A!
[Answered: Will Barnes & Noble be acquired or go bankrupt?]
Because OTHER bookstores around the country are closing.
All of the main chains are gone, including Borders, besides Barnes and Noble. There is still a strong culture and want for book stores and Barnes and Noble is surviving off of that now that they are the only big store left.
In essence, BN is the last man standing. They are bruised and beaten up a bit, but they survived and have lived to tell the tale, much like Best Buy.
And damned be the man, woman, or circumstance that causes my favorite writing place and hangout to close!
It ISN’T surviving! Barnes and Noble has been committing slow suicide by downsizing for the past decade or more. The chain tried to compete head-to-head with Amazon, establishing an ill-fated online service while ignoring its great competitive advantage - its staff of experienced booksellers. B&N once offered its customers the chance to talk to knowledgeable people about books - an experience totally lacking in online sales.
The chain suffered losses in 5 out of the past 7 years (fiscal 2012 to 2018), with total losses of $361.23 million in that period. And the number of stores has dropped from
It ISN’T surviving! Barnes and Noble has been committing slow suicide by downsizing for the past decade or more. The chain tried to compete head-to-head with Amazon, establishing an ill-fated online service while ignoring its great competitive advantage - its staff of experienced booksellers. B&N once offered its customers the chance to talk to knowledgeable people about books - an experience totally lacking in online sales.
The chain suffered losses in 5 out of the past 7 years (fiscal 2012 to 2018), with total losses of $361.23 million in that period. And the number of stores has dropped from a high of 726 in 2008 to only 630 in 2018. But why this decline?
I was a supervisor at a Barnes & Noble store for 8 years. In 2006 and 2007 the chain forced out most of its older, more experienced booksellers - everybody who qualified for medical coverage - by issuing falsified bad performance reviews. At the same time they brought in managers who were (in my own personal experience) illiterate and generally incompetent. B&N ignored its strengths while playing to its weaknesses, and is paying the price of its poor decisions.
Simple answer:
Losses mounted because it failed to change when demand and supply changed
More nuanced answer:
Both Borders and Barnes & Noble grew on delivering more choice, at lower prices with a great buying experience. The choice and low prices came from volume. They both had massive stores (Barnes & Noble 5th Av in NYC was a whopping 154,000 sf), they could bulk buy and Border’s inventory system could even anticipate reading demand. Big stores also meant that one could browse and browse in comfort.
But by the mid-1990s, three things changed dramatically
a. A small but important portion of book
Simple answer:
Losses mounted because it failed to change when demand and supply changed
More nuanced answer:
Both Borders and Barnes & Noble grew on delivering more choice, at lower prices with a great buying experience. The choice and low prices came from volume. They both had massive stores (Barnes & Noble 5th Av in NYC was a whopping 154,000 sf), they could bulk buy and Border’s inventory system could even anticipate reading demand. Big stores also meant that one could browse and browse in comfort.
But by the mid-1990s, three things changed dramatically
a. A small but important portion of book readers started to real electronically (eBooks) and a growing portion started buying on line. As you can see in the chart below, the cost of a eBooks is significantly and very significantly cheaper than hardcover.
b. Less well known is the explosion in titles. This resulted in the ‘devil or the deep blue sea’. Bulk buying so many books crippled cash flow, but failure to stock titles meant internet stores could smash Borders in terms of variety abd choice.
c. The Board of Borders was not stupid. They decided that rather than compete against Amazon they would partner with Amazon and use their physical space to sell other products. In hindsight, this was a very bad decision. Amazon cannibalized their client base and the products they chose to sell did not resonate with their clients.
Barnes & Noble have also had it tough, but their ebook “Nook” offering, foray into cyberspace while staying true to their strength of book selling, has at least prevented them falling off a cliff.
Ah … its all so easy to explain with hindsight
I'm not sure that B&N is considered to be doing well as a business. They've had significant issues and their stock is down >50% in the last 5 years. They have had an ongoing proxy fight over the quality of their management/strategy. Of course they haven't filed for bankruptcy. One item to note is their huge presence on college campuses and their associated textbook/college apparel revenues which have been slower to erode. While the Nook is relatively successful compared to Border's offering, I still think it's far from clear that it can be a profitable business for them.
Many bookstores made financial mistakes in trying to compete when Amazon was growing and taking a huge market share. Borders did not survive. B&N tried becoming all things to all people: toys and coffee… with less emphasis on books. But they are still in business because they changed direction again and decided that they are about books and people want books and they want a clean well lit place to read them and buy them. Shocking.
Despite the pandemic Barnes and Noble is surviving along with many local independent bookstores.
The biggest reason any bookstore chains are performing poorly is because print is performing poorly, music sales in the "real world" (not online) are doing poorly, and DVD/Blu-ray sales are doing poorly. So any stores that are based on selling print material, CDs, and DVDs is going to have a serious problem.
All of this can be summed up as a failure to adapt fast enough, I think, or to recognize trends and conform.
I admit I am personally a fan of Borders. My wife and I get a lot of books, and we became Borders customers years ago and have remained pretty loyal over the many years. So I hate
The biggest reason any bookstore chains are performing poorly is because print is performing poorly, music sales in the "real world" (not online) are doing poorly, and DVD/Blu-ray sales are doing poorly. So any stores that are based on selling print material, CDs, and DVDs is going to have a serious problem.
All of this can be summed up as a failure to adapt fast enough, I think, or to recognize trends and conform.
I admit I am personally a fan of Borders. My wife and I get a lot of books, and we became Borders customers years ago and have remained pretty loyal over the many years. So I hate seeing them slowly go under, especially since I think it could have been avoided by adapting to clear emerging trends.
Young female readers should be heavily targeted with a strong focus on that demographic, and educational/instructional books are still doing fine in sales. It seems to me that a heavy focus in those two key areas, and then a remaining focus on new-release and best-selling adult hardcover and paperback books would be the best way to direct the actual print sales part of the stores. Then, bite the bullet and end the music portion and the film portions. Instead of a big music and film section to the stores, go for new media -- specifically, sell e-readers and set up plug-in stations for shoppers to quickly browse for e-books and download them to their e-readers. I'd have been bold and just called up Steve Jobs and said "Hey, wanna open up little mini Apple stores in every Borders, to sell iPads and related items to promote a massive push to try and dominate the e-reader market?"
Ask yourself this -- what bookstore would be cooler than one that promotes itself as a walk-in bookstore equivalent of the iTunes store in the real world? Streamlined, narrowly targeted print sales combined with heavy promotion of Borders as becoming a new generation in bookstores, really branding it as a next-generation bookstore that is hip to hang out in, where you bring your e-readers and iPads etc to browse for e-books in the electronic store that people access when they enter Borders, make it like a bookstore version of iTunes but one you interact in both online and in the real world, all at once. You drink your coffee, meet your friends, look around at some cool new products, and shop on your e-reader/iPad/etc in a user-friendly site that promotes books and genres the way iTunes makes music so easy and fun to browse.
"Streamlined" is the key, including the e-book site. Amazon is great and all, but it's kind of cluttered and not very interesting to look at, is it? And it doesn't project an image, which is key -- Borders needs to look and act hip, to become something new and a bookstore that stands out because it isn't like any other bookstore. Smaller, more focused print content, and a big shift toward e-books but in a way that makes the actual in-store experience part of the e-reader/iPad element. And linking up with Apple would be a big boon, I suspect, to get them in the store and helping draw customers and add to the branding and coolness points for the store. Now make your coffee shop area much, much bigger -- wrap it like a half-moon around the edge of your stores, and make the tables into e-reader stations with plug outlets for chargers by every table.
Look different, look sleek and new and different from anything people are used to seeing, and push it as the place where the online experience meets the real world, really drive that concept into the marketing of it. I think it might have been a way to drop overhead significantly, focus the marketing in a very new-and-youthful direction, brand the store from scratch, link up with Apple and highlight that significantly in the look and design and feel of the store, and stock books that really only focus on bringing in the three key print-buying demographics (young females -- which will bring young guys in to the store as well, of course -- plus educational-related books and new-release best-seller adult hardcover and paperbacks, all in a small section).
I'd love to have seen Borders make a transition to a brand new sort of bookstore, and be able to remain competitive and innovative. Sadly, I don't see much that can be done now to pull them back from the abyss. They just seem to have unfortunately made all the wrong choices in what to carry and what to forgo, sadly. I still go there regularly and will give them my business as long as they stay alive, but I honestly don't see how they can make it much longer. :(
Honestly, it’s amazing to me that they’ve hung on so long.
My wife and I are both avid readers and go through probably 3–4 books a week at least. Paying full retail or even 25% off would put our cost a little over $20 for hardbacks and about $7 for paperbacks so we do all our book shopping from thrift stores and the library sales.
Barnes & Noble has one store in North Austin where I used to go to buy books with difficult crosswords, but I’ve switched to buying these on Amazon.
The Barnes & Noble staff is very helpful to customers but it’s the pricing that drives many away to cheaper sources. They
Honestly, it’s amazing to me that they’ve hung on so long.
My wife and I are both avid readers and go through probably 3–4 books a week at least. Paying full retail or even 25% off would put our cost a little over $20 for hardbacks and about $7 for paperbacks so we do all our book shopping from thrift stores and the library sales.
Barnes & Noble has one store in North Austin where I used to go to buy books with difficult crosswords, but I’ve switched to buying these on Amazon.
The Barnes & Noble staff is very helpful to customers but it’s the pricing that drives many away to cheaper sources. They now have a new CEO from England who has turned around failing book chains before. Best of luck to him, but if B & N can’t sell books at a price most people are willing to pay, the end result will be Chapter 11.
It depends on the direction the company takes and how well it executes on the vision.
If Barnes and Noble insists on its stores being book warehouses for publishers it will probably be gone within 10 years.
If company reinvents its stores into 'Starbucks with books selection', into a '3rd place' (place to spend time besides home and work), and aligns its digital strategy with the stores the should be able to stay relevant and alive.
I doubt it. Borders was done in by gross mismanagement; Barnes & Noble has made some mistakes, but nothing like the boneheaded stunts Borders pulled. Besides, the competition is less now — B&N is the biggest survivor of the bookstore chains. Yes, they’re still up against Amazon, but they fill a slightly different niche in the economic ecosystem.
They could still run th...
The memberships.
Whether people use them to its full advantage or not, it still is a source of income to the company.
They either profit off of the $25 dollars for the card that someone will never use or forfeit 10% off their items yet still profit because of the fact that items are being sold.
The company also realizes that not every book/item will sell at full price; hence the vast amount of bargain priced shelves and periodic clearance section.
Please stop by a store and buy a cheap book or a cup of coffee- the smallest transactions make a difference.
The best answer I can give you is, to pay their employees.
You can typically get a cheaper price through Barnes & Noble online, because those things are shipped to you straight from the warehouse. So there’s a shipping charge, and the cost of the book is usually what the publisher has set it as. Or, similar to Amazon, you can buy from a third party on the B&N Marketplace for even cheaper.
However, in store, there’s a lot more that goes into it. It costs money to pull the book from the warehouse and ship it to the store. It costs money to pay the Receiving Managers to unpack the hundreds and hund
The best answer I can give you is, to pay their employees.
You can typically get a cheaper price through Barnes & Noble online, because those things are shipped to you straight from the warehouse. So there’s a shipping charge, and the cost of the book is usually what the publisher has set it as. Or, similar to Amazon, you can buy from a third party on the B&N Marketplace for even cheaper.
However, in store, there’s a lot more that goes into it. It costs money to pull the book from the warehouse and ship it to the store. It costs money to pay the Receiving Managers to unpack the hundreds and hundreds of boxes of books every day, in a large back room that you don’t see. Then it costs money to pay a bookseller to put those books on the shelf. And it costs more money to staff the store so that a bookseller is trained enough to know where the book is and to show it to you and sell it to you. Then the books that don’t sell, after so long, have to be packed up and shipped back to the publisher.
All of those costs are taken into account when the book is priced. It’s marked up because of all the time and money that is invested into getting that book on a shelf in a particular store.
Barnes & Noble can be aggressive with their sales pitches at checkout, and I hated having to sell the credit cards, and the promo books, etc. I just wanted to put books in people’s hands and make them happy. That’s a big part of why I left— it wasn’t about the books anymore. The company seemed to be headed in a direction that I didn’t have any respect for.
However, if you continue to shop with Barnes & Noble rather than a cheaper bookstore or ordering online, I would recommend investing in a membership. The discounts are good, and you get great perks like free shipping as well. This helps offset the cost of the more expensive books.
Barnes & Noble was an early entry into online sales, while Borders Books by and large ignored the opportunity that the internet offered. Borders also had larger stores, which meant that their operating costs were higher. B&N stuck to somewhat smaller stores, and didn’t diversify as much as Borders.
When Amazon hit, those stores that had some experience with the internet were already there. Borders hadn’t started, and in their ignorance they outsourced their online book sales to… Amazon.
After that, it was pretty much all she wrote.
- about 28,000 people would be looking for new jobs
- about 640 landlords would be scrambling (and possibly, struggling) to find a new tenant, very likely experiencing substantial losses in the interim
- state and federal governments would lose about $10 million in income tax revenue
- state government would lose hundreds of millions in sales tax revenue
- Forbes would be looking for a company to replace them on their Fortune 500 list
- people would be forced to buy their books elsewhere
- millions of shareholders would have to look for another company in which to invest their money
- tens or hundreds of millions wo
- about 28,000 people would be looking for new jobs
- about 640 landlords would be scrambling (and possibly, struggling) to find a new tenant, very likely experiencing substantial losses in the interim
- state and federal governments would lose about $10 million in income tax revenue
- state government would lose hundreds of millions in sales tax revenue
- Forbes would be looking for a company to replace them on their Fortune 500 list
- people would be forced to buy their books elsewhere
- millions of shareholders would have to look for another company in which to invest their money
- tens or hundreds of millions would be lost in the stock market, as the stock came crashing to its knees
- a lot of authors and book publishers would be disappointed, as would their suppliers and vendors
- smaller brick and mortar book stores in close proximity to their hypothetical closed stores would be jumping for joy
- Amazon will silently be thinking, “See, I told you that model doesn’t work.”
Stuff like that.
There's also the fact that the used-book market is a long-established and highly active one, especially in slow economic times like nowadays, and there are a lot of experienced, established used-book sellers that Borders and B&N would have to compete with if they tried that segment of the market. For instance, my local used-book store, which has been around for decades, is now literally the size of Borders and B&N (they moved into new quarters last year) and their selection is huge and ever-changing; you really need to visit there every week or so, or even more often, to have the best chance a
There's also the fact that the used-book market is a long-established and highly active one, especially in slow economic times like nowadays, and there are a lot of experienced, established used-book sellers that Borders and B&N would have to compete with if they tried that segment of the market. For instance, my local used-book store, which has been around for decades, is now literally the size of Borders and B&N (they moved into new quarters last year) and their selection is huge and ever-changing; you really need to visit there every week or so, or even more often, to have the best chance at finding something good. Their prices are first-rate, and you can often find astonishing deals there (for instance, a couple of months back I found a brand-new copy of the new Hedy Lamarr biography, which retails for $30 or so, for $4 there!) They've even gotten into selling vinyl LP's to appeal to nostalgic audiophiles. Most of all, used-book stores _trade_ their wares with their customers, so you often don't need to spend one cent when you shop there; just take in the things you don't want anymore, trade them in, get a credit slip and find something you want. I don't see how retailers of new books can match this.
Barnes and Nobles isn’t the only bookstore, and isn’t even the only bookstore chain. It is, however, the biggest one still standing.
it’s been shown that many people who stop to read parts of books while in the store, will go on to buy that book or another one. There are people, though, who don’t. Maybe they think bookstores are like free libraries. Maybe they think bookstores are supported by government money or maybe by magic. Maybe they are just cheapskates or idiots. They may just find out that the next time they go to read a book for free, that bookstore has closed because not enough peopl
Barnes and Nobles isn’t the only bookstore, and isn’t even the only bookstore chain. It is, however, the biggest one still standing.
it’s been shown that many people who stop to read parts of books while in the store, will go on to buy that book or another one. There are people, though, who don’t. Maybe they think bookstores are like free libraries. Maybe they think bookstores are supported by government money or maybe by magic. Maybe they are just cheapskates or idiots. They may just find out that the next time they go to read a book for free, that bookstore has closed because not enough people actually purchased books. And won’t they be sad then! They’ll have to find a different place to mooch from.
Much to my surprise: No!
For years, Barnes & Noble (B&N) had “revolving door” management. They seemed to go through CEOs every six months. They were constantly sending mixed messages about their commitment to the ebook reader Nook and selling ebooks. It got so bad, many self-publishing writers began to lose confidence in B&N as a market and were turning their efforts elsewhere.
Then in 2019 came the coup de grace: B&N was bought out by a hedge fund, Elliot Management. Hedge funds generally exist break up companies and extract cash from them—not build them. So I figured that was it for B&N.
Then t
Much to my surprise: No!
For years, Barnes & Noble (B&N) had “revolving door” management. They seemed to go through CEOs every six months. They were constantly sending mixed messages about their commitment to the ebook reader Nook and selling ebooks. It got so bad, many self-publishing writers began to lose confidence in B&N as a market and were turning their efforts elsewhere.
Then in 2019 came the coup de grace: B&N was bought out by a hedge fund, Elliot Management. Hedge funds generally exist break up companies and extract cash from them—not build them. So I figured that was it for B&N.
Then they hired James Daunt to be the CEO of B&N.
Daunt began significant changes at B&N. For one thing: he gave the store managers autonomy to run their stores as local bookstores, not as a franchise chain store. Daunt felt it was important that each B&N store should be offering a selection that was fine tuned to their local community, not to a national average. He increased employee benefits so as to retain good workers.
B&N under Daunt has renewed its commitment to the Nook and selling ebooks, and recently updated the account system for self-publishing authors. More importantly, he had the royalty share increased from 65% to 70% to keep the Nook market competitive with Amazon and Apple.
These are all positive moves! But B&N still suffers from years of neglect due to the high turnover rate in upper-management. There are too many people at the corporate level who have never worked on the sales floor and therefore have no experience with how their business actually works and makes money. (This is a problem that is endemic among nearly all big-box retail companies.) This results in nonsensical and counterproductive orders and programs being hoisted upon the front line workers and making the whole operation less productive. This has driven out many highly capable employees and left the company with a serious staffing problem among the frontline workers. You could have the best management in the world, but you aren’t going to get much business if you don’t have the staff necessary to help customers.
Barnes & Noble is beginning to turn a corner in corporate health, but the company still has a long way to go to show profitability and stability. At least they’re in a much better position now than they were just two years ago.
Service from knowledgeable pros.
Immediate gratification.
Easy and immediate returns.
Emotional satisfaction from browsing the store.
Plus, of course, they sell a lot more than books.
The writing is on the wall. Book stores are doomed, in the same way as record stores were ten years ago. We live in a digital age where people do not seem to want to spend the time and effort to actually go to a store if they can get the same thing online instantly at home. Libraries are next on the list. Wikipedia killed the multi-volume encyclopedia. Digital libraries will make physical ones too expensive to run as people go online. The only thin Barnes and Noble could do would be to compete with Amazon head on, but market themselves as purists as opposed to Amazons sell anything approach. T
The writing is on the wall. Book stores are doomed, in the same way as record stores were ten years ago. We live in a digital age where people do not seem to want to spend the time and effort to actually go to a store if they can get the same thing online instantly at home. Libraries are next on the list. Wikipedia killed the multi-volume encyclopedia. Digital libraries will make physical ones too expensive to run as people go online. The only thin Barnes and Noble could do would be to compete with Amazon head on, but market themselves as purists as opposed to Amazons sell anything approach. The tide has turned and it would be best to go with the flow.
Lucky for me I have both Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million here which I might add I have shifted more to Books-A-Million. Even though I did pay a membership without one the books are a bit cheaper. I get coupons regularly plus if the books are cheaper on amazon that is the cost you pay. This is how Books-A-Million updated their membership benefits. As far as memberships for Borders well I enjoyed the free but what really hurt them was too much dvd/video and not quickly getting on board with the electronic readers craze. They probably could have made it "a bit" if they had partnered with
Lucky for me I have both Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million here which I might add I have shifted more to Books-A-Million. Even though I did pay a membership without one the books are a bit cheaper. I get coupons regularly plus if the books are cheaper on amazon that is the cost you pay. This is how Books-A-Million updated their membership benefits. As far as memberships for Borders well I enjoyed the free but what really hurt them was too much dvd/video and not quickly getting on board with the electronic readers craze. They probably could have made it "a bit" if they had partnered with Amazon instead of Sony.