Is Nook Cannibalizing Store Sales?

As a newly–minted owner of a Barnes & Noble’s Nook, I experienced a weird feeling as I walked into a local brick and mortar B&N store the other day. I saw a particular book I wanted to buy, but just couldn’t get myself to take it to the checkout.

See, in my mind, having paid $280 for a single-purpose device (which I’m fairly unhappy with), I couldn’t justify an in-store purchase. It’s like buying a hybrid. Even if you’re not a tree hugger, you gotta live in that car to break even with the high markup for the new technology. This is why I don’t find hybrids appealing yet. Same with the Nook.

Turns out that relatively new book (Moral Minority, if you’re curious) wasn’t available in digital format. That’s a sale lost on two accounts.

I would imagine all this is different with Amazon. They don’t have “brick & mortar” stores, so I never had buyer’s remorse. You buy online from them, digital or not. Besides, they have lots more books digitized.

I’m curious to see how Nook affects B&N’s in-store sales. But one thing is clear to me: B&N should work harder to justify Nook’s price tag.

Note: I’ve expressed my frustration with Nook on Twitter and do plan to write an in-depth review of its UX. One of these days…

I do not think that B&N is so much thinking of the Nook as cannibalizing its stores, so much as it is thinking of keeping up with the competition. I guess they would rather transform their business from bricks and mortar as opposed to having no business at all. Cannibalizing is a form of transformation in business sometimes. Much like people thinking that Apple cannibalized many of its iPods with each new iPod.