Dear Barnes and Noble...
Dear Barnes and Noble,
Are you paying any attention at all to the industry? I mean, the only other large-chain bookstore in the USA is going belly-up. And while you might secretly cheer this--where are their customers going to go but to you?--you might want to ask yourselves what Borders did wrong, so you can avoid doing it too.
I'm sure you're aware that one of the growing threats to your brick-and-mortar sales is online bookselling. Sure, it hasn't cannibalized all your sales yet, but the growth rate has been steep.
In addition, ebooks are, apparently, projected to be 10% of the revenue stream by 2013. Maybe you haven't noticed, but 2013 is only three years away, which in the business world is nothing. It would take you three years to start a new initiative and get it off the ground.
Which is why your curious delay at joining the rest of us in the 21st century is so perplexing.
One of the notes (out of many) that was oft-repeated in the symphony of complaints about Amazonfail this weekend is that the B&N online store, both for paper and electronic editions, sucks. I know that I was shopping at Amazon because it's convenient and easy, but now I am reminded why I didn't get rolling on B&N.
(I also noticed another failing of yours recently. I received a B&N gift certificate. I was not at the moment in the market for books, so I went looking for a new game for my Wii. Your selection is pitiful, to say the least, and you didn't have the game I was looking for. So yes, I ordered it from Amazon.)
What I am trying to say, is that HELLO, B&N, WHY ARE YOU NOT COMPETING, HERE?
If anyone can compete with Amazon, it's you. Make your website work properly. Make your ebook sales viable for Macintosh users. Sell more than just books--sell other published items such as games and music. Give free shipping--if Amazon can do it, you can too. Give good customer support and service--and tout the hell out of it. People really will pay a little more if it means they get treated better. (ETA: apparently they do give free shipping. Hooray!)
In short, invest in your fucking company, damn you. Earmark some money for really good programmers, and come into the 21st century. I want an alternative to Amazon, but you aren't giving me one.