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B&N 'developing partnership' with Waterstones over Nook
30.01.12 | The Bookseller News Team
US retailer Barnes & Noble is "developing a partnership with Waterstones to add the Nook to its locations this year", according to reports on news site Bloomberg Businessweek which quotes an unnamed source "familiar with the situation".
The source said B&N is in private talks with Waterstones to add the Nook to its stores this year. Spokeswomen for both B&N and Waterstones declined to comment to Bloomberg on the news.
Standard & Poor analyst Michael Souers told Bloomberg: "It they [B&N] do increase the distribution for the product, it's obviously a benefit for them. Amazon is still the behemoth in the market, and has the upper hand because they were the first mover in the majority of markets."
This follows the news from B&N earlier in January that the retailer is considering separating its Nook business from its traditional book retailing operations, and is looking to take the Nook overseas. At the time, it said it was in discussions with "strategic partners including publishers, retailers, and technology companies". Sales of its Nook e-reading device increased 70% year-on-year over the nine-week festive period ending 31st December 2011, with sales of digital content shooting up by 113% over the same period.
In November last year, B&N chief executive William Lynch told The Bookseller an international roll-out of the Nook was being planned, with details to be announced within the next four months. At the Publishers Association's international conference in December, B&N vice-president of digital content, Theresa Horner, said the e-reader would be coming to the UK in the "not too distant future".
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I would definitely consider migrating to the Nook if it was available in the UK. A Nook app for my android tablet please.
The Nook is an impressive piece of kit - the problem, is [potentially] the ecosystem behind it. Both the Nook and the Kobo are, imo, better devices than the Kindle. They might use the same screens, and operate at the same "rate of knots" due to having similar hardware specifications, but the Nook & Kobo both have GUIs that are more easily navigable, by your average consumer.
The problem, however? I'd venture most consumers think "Kindle" when it comes to eReaders - the name of one product is used in relation to others in that category - i.e. people referring to vacuum cleaners as "Hoovers". Even with a 300 branch bookstore to promote it - it's going to be a difficult sell, not to mention, how aggressively will Waterstones employees push said device? I know more than a few who have expressed pure disgust, not only at eReaders, but the people who use them - they'll now be expected to "pitch" said devices to a demographic that - by the very nature of buying from a brick and mortar store, isn't predisposed to be interested.
Then there's the other problem: Price. While Waterstone's might be able to sell the Nook at a price that's competitive with the Kindle / Kobo eReaders, the potential Achilles heel will be the price of eBooks. It's hardly what you'd call a controlled experiment, but I recently complied a list of the last 50 books I'd read, and did a price comparison of the eBooks from Amazon and Waterstone's.
If you remove the titles whose price was dictated by the publisher, Amazon came in at 67% cheaper, than Waterstone's. That'a significant saving on just one book - suffice to say the saving becomes even more pronounced when you're talking about multiple titles.
As the popularity of other ereaders increases I think we'll stop calling ebooks 'Kindles'. In fact I notice that this is already changing. It's confusing because people don't know if you're talking about the device or the book, which will make it easier for competitors to encourage people to say 'ebook' instead.
Pricing can still change and is at an experimental stage. Amazon charges such high commission, particularly for sales to parts of the world where they charge 65% commission, that I believe it's possible to set competitive prices.
Welcome news.Now that WHSmith have teamed with Kobo in the UK with readers (buyers) being directed to the Kobo site for sales of e-books,as mine are, Waterstones need to fill the gap in their operations and provide a similar service. At present publishers have to go through a specific aggregator to provide files to them specifically,even if files are already available in e-Pub format on Nook,Kobo,Apple etc.with an ISBN.
A publisher or author going through US Smashwords and meeting the specific requirements of the large e-Pub retailers will be entered into their Premium Catalogue with titles being shipped to Apple,Sony,Nook,Kobo, Diesel etc. This in turn now allows WHSmith customers to purchase e-books for Kobo or Kobo apps.
This news of a partnership with Waterstones will further widen choice and allow customers to remain loyal to Waterstones while at the same time allowing customers to enjoy a variety of reading experiences to suit changing circumstances.
Let us not forget that many consumers have loyalty/charge cards for major booksellers.
Regarding the comment from 'Just your average consumer'about Waterstones staff having reservations, that is a training and 'managing change' need which Waterstones will have to manage.
If we didn't move with the times,we would still bein the Ark!
Read my post on e-boooks/print http://www.discover-rosalie.blogspot.com/
I hope this is so! I've been searching to find the right device for quite a while and ever since my best friend got a nook for christmas in 2010, the bar has been set! Personally one of the first things that put me off of wanting to buy a kindle is simply the fact that I do have a strong loyalty to Waterstones, their card and the excitement of being in one of their branches. I do believe that Waterstones can introduce their own ereader or nook, but still draw in customers the same way B&N do if they adopt some of their tactics and benefits.
I would definitely consider migrating to the Nook if it was available in the UK. A Nook app for my android tablet please.
The Nook is an impressive piece of kit - the problem, is [potentially] the ecosystem behind it. Both the Nook and the Kobo are, imo, better devices than the Kindle. They might use the same screens, and operate at the same "rate of knots" due to having similar hardware specifications, but the Nook & Kobo both have GUIs that are more easily navigable, by your average consumer.
The problem, however? I'd venture most consumers think "Kindle" when it comes to eReaders - the name of one product is used in relation to others in that category - i.e. people referring to vacuum cleaners as "Hoovers". Even with a 300 branch bookstore to promote it - it's going to be a difficult sell, not to mention, how aggressively will Waterstones employees push said device? I know more than a few who have expressed pure disgust, not only at eReaders, but the people who use them - they'll now be expected to "pitch" said devices to a demographic that - by the very nature of buying from a brick and mortar store, isn't predisposed to be interested.
Then there's the other problem: Price. While Waterstone's might be able to sell the Nook at a price that's competitive with the Kindle / Kobo eReaders, the potential Achilles heel will be the price of eBooks. It's hardly what you'd call a controlled experiment, but I recently complied a list of the last 50 books I'd read, and did a price comparison of the eBooks from Amazon and Waterstone's.
If you remove the titles whose price was dictated by the publisher, Amazon came in at 67% cheaper, than Waterstone's. That'a significant saving on just one book - suffice to say the saving becomes even more pronounced when you're talking about multiple titles.
As the popularity of other ereaders increases I think we'll stop calling ebooks 'Kindles'. In fact I notice that this is already changing. It's confusing because people don't know if you're talking about the device or the book, which will make it easier for competitors to encourage people to say 'ebook' instead.
Pricing can still change and is at an experimental stage. Amazon charges such high commission, particularly for sales to parts of the world where they charge 65% commission, that I believe it's possible to set competitive prices.
Welcome news.Now that WHSmith have teamed with Kobo in the UK with readers (buyers) being directed to the Kobo site for sales of e-books,as mine are, Waterstones need to fill the gap in their operations and provide a similar service. At present publishers have to go through a specific aggregator to provide files to them specifically,even if files are already available in e-Pub format on Nook,Kobo,Apple etc.with an ISBN.
A publisher or author going through US Smashwords and meeting the specific requirements of the large e-Pub retailers will be entered into their Premium Catalogue with titles being shipped to Apple,Sony,Nook,Kobo, Diesel etc. This in turn now allows WHSmith customers to purchase e-books for Kobo or Kobo apps.
This news of a partnership with Waterstones will further widen choice and allow customers to remain loyal to Waterstones while at the same time allowing customers to enjoy a variety of reading experiences to suit changing circumstances.
Let us not forget that many consumers have loyalty/charge cards for major booksellers.
Regarding the comment from 'Just your average consumer'about Waterstones staff having reservations, that is a training and 'managing change' need which Waterstones will have to manage.
If we didn't move with the times,we would still bein the Ark!
Read my post on e-boooks/print http://www.discover-rosalie.blogspot.com/
I hope this is so! I've been searching to find the right device for quite a while and ever since my best friend got a nook for christmas in 2010, the bar has been set! Personally one of the first things that put me off of wanting to buy a kindle is simply the fact that I do have a strong loyalty to Waterstones, their card and the excitement of being in one of their branches. I do believe that Waterstones can introduce their own ereader or nook, but still draw in customers the same way B&N do if they adopt some of their tactics and benefits.