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Barnes & Noble reported their sales from the 2017 holiday quarter, and the news is not good.
B&N today reported holiday sales for the nine-week holiday period ending December 30, 2017. Total sales for the holiday period were $953 million, declining 6.4% as compared to the prior year. Comparable store sales also declined 6.4% for the holiday period, while online sales declined 4.5%.
Entering December, the Company was encouraged by the comparable store sales improvements throughout the second quarter and into November. However, sales trends softened in December, primarily due to lower traffic.
The Company's book business declined 4.5%, outperforming the overall comparable store sales performance. Declines in the gift, music and DVD categories accounted for nearly half of the comparable store sales decrease. The Company said it remains focused on executing its strategic turnaround plan, which includes an aggressive expense management program.
The keywords are "aggressive expense management program," which translates to "lowering" the cost of employees, and closing and downsizing stores.
Previously: Barnes & Noble Pivots to Books
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ledow on Tuesday January 09 2018, @01:32PM
You can notice this trend among a lot of stores that are on their way out.
Our local Dixons/Currys (large white-goods suppliers) did the same for many years before one went bust, the other got subsumed, etc.
And things like Maplins (the nearest internationally-familiar equivalent would be Radio Shack). They started stocking everything from toys to camping gear a few years ago and it's slowly taken over (some stores don't even have the electronics component counter at all any more).
When your primary market isn't enough to sustain you, you have to branch out and the further and deeper you branch, the more in trouble you are. You're trying to get that extra 1% of business from stores that sell NOTHING but the things you're trying to now stock, just by virtue of having them in your store too to be convenient.
Even places like Halfords (car/bike maintenance products) are doing the same now.
It's a sign that, where you can get everything in one place online, you can't do it in real stores as you just can't stock enough without turning into a generic shop.
And equally, if you're after something very specialist you're still better off online (because the specialist offline stores can't stock everything including all the niche items based only on passing trade).
We're heading towards the days of a few single mega-retailers that stock everything, with a pocketful of large niche people who cater only for the specialist stuff. That doesn't translate to traditional shops at all well.
Even "supermarkets" are now huge and do everything from pharmacy to tanning salon to optician to post office to florist all under one roof. The days of a shop that sells one thing is numbered. That's going to move purely to trade-sales only for such specialist suppliers. Everything else will be mega-mart sold.
(Aside: In my town, there is a road junction with two large supermarkets, one on either side of the road. One is sign-posted "Supermarket", the other "Hypermarket".... talk about oneupmanship.