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This Week's Bestsellers: August 20-26, 2012
Commentary and analysis on this week's PW Bestsellers Lists
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SEAL Book, New Rowling Could Signal a Strong Fall
Over the past decade sales patterns have changed, with fall, or “holiday,” sales picking up later and later—often in the last two weeks of the season. But things could be different this year. With the closing of Borders, many stores saw a significant uptick last November, and for some, like San Francisco–based Books Inc., with 12 locations in California, sales have stayed strong right through the summer. According to president Michael Tucker, the Palo Alto store is up 50%; Alameda, 27%. Overall sales for the indie chain are up 9%. Even stores like the Ivy in Baltimore, Md., whose summer was adversely affected by severe storms, including a tornado, have seen sales rise year over year.
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A Cash Mob Hits Reopened Curious George Store
The World's Only Curious George Store in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass., may also hold the distinction of hosting the world's first children's specialty store cash mob last Saturday, or at least the first one in New England.
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B&N Adds More U.K. Retailers to Sell Nook Devices
Following on its deal with the John Lewis retail chain announced earlier this week, Barnes & Noble announced partnerships with three major British book retailers to sell its suite of Nook e-ink digital readers in physical stores and online. Beginning in October, B&N will offer its digital readers for sale through the multi-channel chain retailer Argosy, academic retailer Blackwell’s and independent bookstore chain Foyles.
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More Details Emerge on ABA/Kobo Partnership
Yesterday’s announcement that the ABA found an e-book solution with Kobo replacing Google raised a number of questions, including when the transition will take place.
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ABA to Replace Google With Kobo
ABA to replace Google e-book program with Kobo and sell e-reading devices for the first time.
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B&N Study of College Students Finds TV Ads Effective, QR Codes Not So Much
A Barnes & Noble 2012 College Marketing Report on students’ influences had some surprising results: TV ads continue to be an effective way to reach students.
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Amazon Touts Growth of Prime
Although analysts have sometimes questioned the costs associated with Amazon Prime, the company has maintained that Prime encourages customers to buy more items and today it announced that it ships more items through Prime than its free shipping offer that lets customers receive free shipping on orders over $25.
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NAIBA Names Sargent & Booksellers Legacy Award Winners
In a move reminiscent of Time magazine’s decision to name “you” Person of the Year, NAIBA is recognizing both John Sargent and “all of us” for its Legacy Award.
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B&N Will Rise or Fall with Content
While Barnes & Noble has created lots of buzz and headlines with its Nook e-reading devices, its future profitability lies in the sale of content. That was the message CEO William Lynch delivered to analysts last week in a conference call discussing first-quarter results. Improved gross margins were due to increased sales of higher-margin content, while competition forced B&N to lower the price of its e-reading devices by an average of 23% compared to a year ago, which contributed to a decline in device sales. Lynch said that while B&N needs to be “competitive” in the device space, “hardware is not where margins reside—they reside in digital content.” Digital content sales rose 46% in the first quarter, with sales of apps, magazines, and newspapers growing at a slightly faster pace than e-books, Lynch noted.
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Spotlight on Book-Buying Behavior
Generation Y, readers born between 1979 and 1989, spent the most money on books in 2011, taking over the book-buying leadership from baby boomers, according to Bowker’s just released 2012 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics & Buying Behaviors Annual Review. Generation Y accounted for 30% of book spending in the year, although the age group accounted for only 25% of units purchased. The discrepancy is due to Generation Y spending more money on expensive titles for school or work than other age groups. Generation Y was the only age group whose spending was higher than its proportion of the overall population. The report is available at www.bookconsumer.com, or e-mail MarketResearch@Bowker.com for more information.
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This Week's Bestsellers: Aug. 13-19, 2012
Analysis of and commentary on this week's PW Bestsellers lists.
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BAM! Gets Settled In New England
Last August Books-a-Million’s $934,000 purchase of the leases for 14 Borders stores from U.S. bankruptcy court gave it entrée to seven new states above its stronghold in the Bible Belt. By year’s end, through the acquisition and assumption of more leases, BAM! had moved into 41 former Borders locations and gained a toehold in an eighth state. Together the new stores provided the nation’s #2 chain, or as it prefers to describe itself, “the third largest book retailer in the nation,” a presence in New England for the first time.
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What's Selling at River Lights Bookstore
From River Lights Bookstore in Dubuque, Iowa, owner Sue Davis gives word about a handful of children's books that are moving briskly this summer.
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Schuler Books Marks 30th Anniversary
One year almost to the day after the last Borders stores closed, another Michigan-based book retailer, Schuler Books & Music, will celebrate their 30th year selling books.
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New Stores Boost Books-A-Million
The addition of over 40 new stores in last year’s fourth quarter resulted in a 14.9% increase in sales at Books-A-Million for the second quarter ended July 28, with revenue hitting $120.4 million in the period. Comparable store sales, however, increased at a much more modest rate of 0.5%.
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Content Drives Improvement at Barnes & Noble
The sale of print and digital content led to a 2.5% increase in revenue at Barnes & Noble in the first quarter ended July 28, with total sales rising to $1.45 billion. Net loss in the quarter fell to $41 million from $56.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2012.
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Bookstore Sales Up in First Half of 2012
Bookstore sales rose 3.8% in June, to $1.04 billion, according to estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The strong June performance helped to put bookstore sales in 2012 slightly ahead of sales at the half-way point of 2011, with sales up 0.6%, to $6.98 billion.
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Books Up at Hastings, Which Cuts Loss
Given a boost by sales of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, book comps rose 2.5% in the second quarter ended July 31 at Hastings Entertainment. In addition to Grey, sales of used books were up, helping to offset declines in hardcover sales.
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Porter Square Books to Publish Dog Calendar
Next month Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass., is hoping that customers will sit up and take notice of Sit. Stay. Read! (PSB, $15), a 2013 wall calendar of neighborhood dogs.
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