When Amazon Isn’t the Best Choice

It was a sad day when my local Barnes & Noble bookstore closed in 2018.  It looked like the convenience of buying books on Amazon was eliminating the experience of buying books from a store.

Not any longer.

Barnes & Noble just opened a new bookstore just one block away from where the original bookstore closed.

Why did they do that?

In short, they listened to their customer who wanted to reclaim the joy of physically exploring and discovering curated books with knowledgeable booksellers – and that experience could neither be replicated online nor with a corporate bookstore.

Indeed, Barnes & Noble recognized that this experiential premise of an independent bookstore, which they had been intent replacing with standardized corporate bookselling, is key to successful in-person bookselling.

How did they do it?

Barnes & Noble focused upon two concepts that create the experience coveted by customers when buying books:

• A curated book selection that caters to local tastes

For a booklover, there is something magical about serendipitously discovering a book on an artfully arranged display table. Consequently, Barnes & Noble has now given each local bookstore control over the books to be displayed and stocked. They also reduced corporate directives for mandated national book buys and displays.

Barnes & Noble used to accept significant payments from publishers for in-store promotions and prime placement of their books. While this practice padded the coffers of the corporation, it also cluttered stores with books that didn’t necessarily interest customers, leading to high return rates. In fact, on average, 30% of these corporate promoted books were returned to publishers.

Barnes & Noble’s return rate has now dropped to 7%. This saved millions of dollars in shipping and labor costs.  But most importantly, it made stores more attractive to customers, as the books on display are now more aligned with what customers actually want to buy.

• Store employees that have a passionate and deep understanding of books

It is difficult to replicate the joy of a passionate bookseller recommending a favorite title without the passionate bookseller – and Barnes & Noble’s practice of hiring mostly part-time employees produced a paucity of passionate booksellers in-store.

The practice minimized costs by keeping part-timers below the hourly threshold for receiving benefits. Not anymore.

Barnes & Noble also reversed their previous strategy of hiring managers from outside the book industry.  Now, all of their stores are staffed by knowledgeable and committed book lovers and managed by those same book lovers too.

What’s the result?

Barnes & Noble’s new model is drawing more shoppers into stores. Average visits per square foot have increased and those customers are lingering.  Nearly 30% of all visitors are now staying 45 minutes or longer.  The company opened 57 new stores in the U.S. in 2024, with plans for 60 more in 2025.

And one of those new stores was right around the block from me.

Not surprisingly, listening to the customer not only benefits the company, but also benefits the customer.

I know that firsthand.