Well, well ... it looks like Barnes & Noble is taking a page from Amazon's ebook (so to speak) with regard to adding features to its digital publishing platform. As this item from eBookNewser indicates, B&N has created a PubIt! bestseller list (presumably the B&N equivalent to that other online retailer's bestseller list -- you know ;).
Other expanded marketing capabilities include "the opportunity to be selected for B&N’s 'Read In Store' program, a platform in which Nook owners can read free content while inside a Barnes & Noble bookstore." That's nice.
Does this mean brick and mortar bookstores are doomed? Not necessarily. As long as they have something to offer and can stay relevant, they'll continue to do business.
Please note this blog post about Powell's Books, a Portland, OR, bookselling mainstay (or to quote the post "the most vaunted brand in the independent bookstore world"), which recently laid off employees due to a drop in sales last year.
You'll notice the post focuses on solutions. Ways to fix the problems. Imagine!
Here's one: Integrate your digital and brick and mortar strengths - If you offer great service in the stores, try to offer it online
Hey, what a concept! Here's another:
It's obvious that Powell's can't compete on price, and it's also clear that Powell's want to increase sales at stores as they don't want to stay an online business. To get there they need to extend their best comparative advantage - being a local business in Portland. The problem is that just being a local business is usually not enough and works in very few places ....
Powell's should adopt a strategy that is based on providing local incentives - for example partnering with other local businesses ...
Wow! Who'd have thought? Do something to set yourself apart from the others. Make yourself unique. The essence of branding. Gee. And I don't even have a degree or training in this sh*t.
But ... what's really awesome is the third one!
Get POD into your stores (at least to one of them at first) by adding the Espresso Book Machine (check at McNally Jackson in New York). This machine can print in minutes affordable, library-quality paperbacks and can also print anything in the public domain, increasing the store's inventory by over 4 million potential titles. This is something that can really increase the value of a visit in your stores for your customers.
Hello? What have I been saying? Give POD a chance. Print isn't dead yet. But bookstores could order books as needed. Returnability could become moot if print runs were reduced in size or eliminated. Seriously. Am I the only one who can figure this out?
Or are we just going to beat this dead horse some more? Rehashing old information, over and over? Expecting new answers to emerge like magic or something?
Anyway, I recommend you read the Powell's Books post. Great suggestions! That make actual sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment