To compete with the likes of Amazon's new Kindle Fire series, Barnes & Noble attempted a multi-pronged approach this past fall that proved unsuccessful. Barnes & Noble placed its bet on the Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets, but unfortunately its strategy didn't bring in the reward it expected.
This wasn't immediately evident as the holiday shopping season started, but as the months passed it became clear that the Nook lineup was falling short. Overall, Nook revenues came in at $311 million over the holiday period, declining 12.6% off of last year's total. Barnes & Noble's total holiday revenue also took a hit, decreasing 10.9% company-wide.
"Nook device sales got off to a good start over the Black Friday period, but then fell short of expectations for the balance of holiday," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc, in a sales report. "We are examining the root cause of the December shortfall in sales, and will adjust our strategies accordingly going forward."
If the spending sprees unleashed during the holidays couldn't bring the Nook in line with expectations, it's unclear what Barnes & Noble can do strategically to change course. Perhaps a price cut will be considered in the coming months. The company's complete second quarter results will be released on Feb. 19, 2013.
Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble isn't the only company flinching from a successful Kindle Fire run. Even the dominant iPad has seen its share of the tablet market drop in the days after Christmas.
"The tablet which brought the product category into the mainstream, Apple's product has long been the king of the market," said the mobile ad firm Chitika in their holiday report. "However, this Christmas marked a serious diversification in tablet shares."
According to the stats, the Kindle Fire's share of the market grew more than 3% this holiday season, moving it up to 7.51% of tablets. Though down from its 86% share last year, the iPad still retains 78.9% of the market, while Samsung's Galaxy tablet is holding on to 4.39% of users.
"This substantial change underscores the inroads non-iPad tablets made this holiday season," Chitika said, "reflecting some initial holiday sales estimates released by companies like Amazon."
