Anyone else tired of the Nook push at Barnes & Noble?

[mwb970]

I bought a book at the local B&N the other day and was surprised and disappointed to find a television set next to the checkout line continuously playing a commercial for the Nook, B&N's eBook reader. I'm sorry, but I will not stand in line in a bookstore while a commercial plays over and over on a TV. How un-classy can you get! It reminded me of a K-Mart with one of those singing-fish plaques blaring all day long right next to the cash registers.

Earlier this month I walked into the same store and was immediately accosted by a team of associates trying to push a Nook on me. I felt like I was at a used-car lot! But this B&N is in an upscale suburb.

This is one of those weird corporate maneuvers that nobody can understand. (Remember "new Coke"?) How out of touch they are with their customers! With this one campaign, they are undermining years of effort to establish B&N as a quality place to buy books. Meanwhile, don't look for me in there! I'll be at the Borders up the street. No commercials playing there.

:eyes:

[realisticphish]

1. ick

now, I actually like the Nook far better than the Kindle, but constant commercials are just obnoxious

[mwb970]

2. That's what's sad about it.

The two episodes gave me a negative attitude toward the Nook, surely the opposite of their intent.

[Lucian]

3. I haven't been in a B&N since I got my Kindle.

But yeah, I can see how that can be annoying.

[begin_within]

4. What a relief. I thought you were referring to my little shenanigans in the geography corner.

[realisticphish]

5. locking

no sex threads :D

[Old Troop]

6. I love those singing fish plaques. Overbearing Nook ads, not so much.

[cloudbase]

7. I've got nothing against

a little nookie.

[Statistical]

8. Fear.

B&N has been losing money. They can't grow any larger to become profitable. They have already killed off all their competition.

If nook doesn't catch on (and I doubt it will the Kindle is far superior) then B&N will be bankrupt in a few years.

[seaglass]

9. The kindle really isn't far superior to the nook. The nook hasn't been

out for even a year yet, had some start up problems and has not been marketed well. Each device has features that appeal to different people - I prefer the touch pad, removable battery, ability to borrow from public libraries and the variety of places I can purchase books - so I am happy with the nook. Others may prefer better highlighting, dictionary and web features which I think are some of the benefits of the kindle.

I admit that I have no idea how invested B&N is in the nook. I know they had job openings across the country about 2 months ago for technical leads in their stores to sell nooks, support e-reader software etc., so it would seem they are trying to make a go of it - but I wouldn't be totally surprised if they decided to sell a variety of e-readers in store.

[Statistical]

11. The larger issue is B&N business model is broken.

B&N thrived by large selection & low prices which killed off local competitors. Essentially the Walmart of bookstores.

Amazon (and internet in general) changed that. Amazon will always be larger and cheaper. Amazon also isn't tied to a single product

B&N is looking to change the dynamic. They are throwing their weight behind the nook not out of choice but necessity.

Personally I doubt they will be successful.

[Orsino]

10. The cashier not only stuffed a promo Nook flyer into my bag...

...she held my bag while she told me she was putting in the flyer.

At least there was no TV yelling at me at checkout. This store seems to reserve that treatment for the seasonal goddamned Christmas elf promotion--they pimp those things hard, with a designated employee to hawk the thing that the TV is already hawking.

[MiddleFingerMom]

12. He said "nook push". n/t

[TreasonousBastard]

13. No, and I bought one...

For me it's vastly superior to the Kindle, although the new Kindle is finally catching up. And I still can't for the life of me understand why presumably intelligent people would order such a thing online without actually seeing it up close or handling it. I was intrigued by the hoopla surrounding the Nook, but actually holding it and reading something on it made me buy it. Actually holding the Sony reader turned me off.

Ebooks are the future, but I'm really going to miss browsing in a bookstore while having a coffee. B&N is now the largest bookseller, but books aren't selling that well any more, and it costs a bundle to keep those stores open, so they're betting on the Nook as the bridge between the store and the ebook.

I used to hate them, when they put small booksellers out of business, but now I wish them well.

[Statistical]

14. "would order such a thing online without actually seeing it up close"

Simple. A no questions asked return policy for 30 days.

It took me all of one afternoon to be convinced I wasn't going to return it.

[leeroysphitz]

15. The snooty is strong with this one. n/t

[grace0418]

16. Well you won't have to worry about it much longer most likely. B&N is in big trouble.

That's probably why they're resorting to desperate sales tactics.