Barnes and Noble – figuring it out?

I’ve been keeping up with how Barnes and Noble is dealing with being in an “industry in transition”, similar to where I currently work.  E-book sales are on the rise and brick and mortar bookstores are seeing declining sales. Borders went out of business, I believe, partly because it didn’t take seriously the shifts in its industry. Barnes and Noble, while quietly hoping for a buyout, is weathering the storm much better due to expanding its focus and investing more in those areas that are doing well. Something that seems obvious, but not enough companies do.

What I like about what B&N is doing, and we’ll see if it’s ultimately successful, is that it decided to expand it’s focus from just books to games and children’s items.  In this article from one of my favorite sites paidcontent.org, the focus of the article is on B&N’s Quarter 1 earnings, but what struck me was this line from a B&N release:

While traditional physical book sales declined during the quarter, the stores posted large increases in sales of the NOOK product line and Toys & Games… (full article here)

Barnes and Noble is a bookseller, as the photo above clearly shows. When a company is known for selling one thing, they can tend to dismiss sales increases in other areas.  (I know this first hand.  I’ve spent five years convincing my company that the increase in sales for my department is a trend, not a fluke)  B&N didn’t ignore these things.  B&N had increased web sales and Nook sales, but it’s store sales were down for the quarter and flat for the year. The things they learned were that they could increase revenue by selling more games and toys.

Sure, they became aware of a trend in their stores, but will they do anything about it? Yes, they did.

This second article is mostly about how they intend, and should, compete with the Kindle,  but the other takeaway is that they are dedicating more floor space to Toys and Games,

Barnes & Noble has started selling more toys and games in its bricks-and-mortar stores—devoting up to 1,000 square feet of store space to those items in some cases (article here)

and creating Nook boutiques in their stores

Barnes & Noble plans to double the size of Nook boutiques in 40 stores—to over 2,000 square feet in some cases.

They see which way their sales are going and dedicated more space to them. Which is something my company is also doing, to modest success. Another takeaway is one that’s also important for all businesses: Sell to Women.

Very soon I’ll be putting up a recommended book section, but till then I recommend Why She Buys by Bridget Brennan.  Women are a powerful buying force that is too often overlooked.  Those companies that pay attention, and really pay attention, to women’s needs will be more successful than those that don’t.  We’ll see if B&N will see more success in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.