According to the NY Times, B&N is going to put a big push into increasing the promotion of its Nook ereader. This will be, in part, by building 1,000-square-foot boutiques in all its stores. The display areas will contain Nooks, demonstration tables, video screens and will be manned by employees who can give customers advice and instructions. The areas will also feature over 100 accessories for the Nook and will be placed outside each store’s cafe. Space will be obtained, in part, from music merchandise.
B&N CEO William Lynch said: “American consumers want to try to hold gadgets before they purchase them”. The article quotes an industry consultant as saying that almost 2 million Kindles have been sold as opposed to more than 600,000 Nooks. Of course the Kindle has had a 2 year head start so this isn’t quite a fair comparison.
