Sales at BN.com fell 22% in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 compared to the same period in fiscal 2015, Barnes & Noble reported in its quarterly filing with the Security & Exchange Commission. As the company reported last week, sales on the website were hurt by greater than expected problems following the relaunch of BN.com in July.
Overall retail sales, which includes BN.com plus the stores, fell 3.1% in the quarter. In addition to the decline in BN.com sales, store closures cost $8 million in sales. According to the filing, sales in non-book core categories increased $6.6 million in the quarter ( 2.8%) as merchandising initiatives continued to drive growth of the Toys & Games, Vinyl and Gift businesses. Book sales decreased $10.4 million (2.1%), primarily on lower sales of trade and juvenile titles, partially offset by strong sales of adult coloring books. Sales of Nook products at the B&B stores fell $3.9 million (25.8%) primarily on lower device unit volume, B&N reported.
A bright spot for the company was its Sterling Publishing unit where sales rose over 26% ($3 million) in the quarter; Sterling is another publisher that has done well with adult coloring books.
