CCBC-Net Archives
Re: Picture Books
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From: Meghan McCarthy <meghanmccarthy007_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:18:28 -0800 (PST)
There is a huge difference between BN/BN.com and Amazon (I even bought food off of Amazon a few weeks back!) but lately the BN stores have been getting in more mugs and bags and pencils and toys and all sorts of non-book stuff. I don't know where it's headed but it's off in a non-book direction for sure. I wish BN would look at what happened to Starbucks--when it sold all of the music and mugs and stuff and then realized that it wasn't working out and went back to "basics ," which was selling coffee. You can't compete with the likes of Amazon, it's a different bird, so why try? Do what you do best, you know?
As for pricing--I try to explain to customers on a daily basis why .com is much cheaper but they're too angry to listen and I understand why. There's a thi ng on the website where you can - buy in the stores - and so the person hits on t he button and they'll get the store location, etc. but the price listed will s till be the online price. Of course they're angry when it's 10 or 20 dollars mor e! (Yeah, in tiny, tiny writing it says prices may vary)
I should probably stop talking about this before I get in trouble. I should end by saying I LOVE BARNES AND NOBLE! Is that better? I do really care about a ll of this because my job and healthcare is at stake.
On the topic of picture books being too expensive: I now put all of my OP b ooks online in their entirety. Free of charge! And I don't care what people do w ith them. Go ahead and print them out for all I care. Why not I figure?
meghan
----- Original Message ----
From: Norma Jean Sawicki To: CCBC Sent: Fri, November 12, 2010 3:55:57 PM Subject:
Picture Books
There is a tremendous difference between Barnes and Noble and Amazon...Barn es and Noble is primarily a bookstore and apart from books/magazines, stocks v ery little merchandise.
Through Amazon, in addition to buying books, one can buy pots and pans, per fume, olive oil, and hundreds, if not thousands, of other products. In most cases , the order for the pots and pans, etc., is forwarded to a store who will fill th e order and ship it but Amazon keeps a portion of the sale. It is a multiface ted mail order business, not a bookseller only.
Books sold online by Barnes and Noble are cheaper than books sold in the th eir stores because the stores carry more overhead. Each store must generate eno ugh income/profit to pay for the staff, rent, gas and electric, tables, etc.
On another note...we do not all want and love the same books...nor do most books sell at the same rate in every part of the country. The Hoban black and whi te board books are fabulous but we are steeped in a visual and somewhat slick
society/culture and except for the most sophisticated customer of children' s books, I cannot imagine black and white board books attracting attention in most bookstores but I would like to think the Hoban board books are well loved a nd introduced to kids by librarians. Norma Jean
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 13:18:28 -0800 (PST)
There is a huge difference between BN/BN.com and Amazon (I even bought food off of Amazon a few weeks back!) but lately the BN stores have been getting in more mugs and bags and pencils and toys and all sorts of non-book stuff. I don't know where it's headed but it's off in a non-book direction for sure. I wish BN would look at what happened to Starbucks--when it sold all of the music and mugs and stuff and then realized that it wasn't working out and went back to "basics ," which was selling coffee. You can't compete with the likes of Amazon, it's a different bird, so why try? Do what you do best, you know?
As for pricing--I try to explain to customers on a daily basis why .com is much cheaper but they're too angry to listen and I understand why. There's a thi ng on the website where you can - buy in the stores - and so the person hits on t he button and they'll get the store location, etc. but the price listed will s till be the online price. Of course they're angry when it's 10 or 20 dollars mor e! (Yeah, in tiny, tiny writing it says prices may vary)
I should probably stop talking about this before I get in trouble. I should end by saying I LOVE BARNES AND NOBLE! Is that better? I do really care about a ll of this because my job and healthcare is at stake.
On the topic of picture books being too expensive: I now put all of my OP b ooks online in their entirety. Free of charge! And I don't care what people do w ith them. Go ahead and print them out for all I care. Why not I figure?
meghan
----- Original Message ----
From: Norma Jean Sawicki To: CCBC Sent: Fri, November 12, 2010 3:55:57 PM Subject:
Picture Books
There is a tremendous difference between Barnes and Noble and Amazon...Barn es and Noble is primarily a bookstore and apart from books/magazines, stocks v ery little merchandise.
Through Amazon, in addition to buying books, one can buy pots and pans, per fume, olive oil, and hundreds, if not thousands, of other products. In most cases , the order for the pots and pans, etc., is forwarded to a store who will fill th e order and ship it but Amazon keeps a portion of the sale. It is a multiface ted mail order business, not a bookseller only.
Books sold online by Barnes and Noble are cheaper than books sold in the th eir stores because the stores carry more overhead. Each store must generate eno ugh income/profit to pay for the staff, rent, gas and electric, tables, etc.
On another note...we do not all want and love the same books...nor do most books sell at the same rate in every part of the country. The Hoban black and whi te board books are fabulous but we are steeped in a visual and somewhat slick
society/culture and except for the most sophisticated customer of children' s books, I cannot imagine black and white board books attracting attention in most bookstores but I would like to think the Hoban board books are well loved a nd introduced to kids by librarians. Norma Jean
---Received on Fri 12 Nov 2010 01:18:28 PM CST
