Playing Amazon at its own game, Barnes & Noble announced in its fiscal second quarter financial results that it also sold double the amount of Nook Android tablet units over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend.
In its press release, Barnes & Noble states that Nook unit sales “doubled over the four-day Black Friday weekend, across all channels, based on information provided by our channel partners on a sell-through basis compared to the similar period last year.” This doesn’t include the company’s new Nook HD and HD+ tablets, as they shipped outside of its second fiscal quarter.
Barnes & Noble adds: “Growth was driven by increased promotional activity at channel partners, particularly Walmart and Target. Retail Core comparable sales, which exclude sales of NOOK products, slightly declined over the holiday weekend, in-line with company expectations.
No hard sales figures, but for investors, industry pundits and the media, it provides some insight into how well its Nook products performed. The company slashed the price of the Nook Simple Touch from $99 to $59, while offering reduced gift cards.
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In comparison, Cyber Monday 2012 was the biggest day ever for Amazon Kindle sales worldwide, doubling up on last year’s record over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Record-breaking sales were helped by Amazon’s decision to sell its Kindle Fire for $129. According to Amazon, this promotion became the biggest Cyber Monday deal ever for its website.
Barnes & Noble Q2 consolidated revenues reached $1.9 billion, a decrease of 0.4% year-on-year. Consolidated net earnings were $2 million, compared to a loss of $7 million a year previous, as Nook revenues totalled $160 million for the quarter, up 6% on year. Sales of ebooks, digital newsstand subscriptions, and apps increased 38% year-on-year, as the company pushed its Android tablets to the US market.
The bookseller expects sales of its Nook HD and Nook HD+ — which have recently gone on sale in the UK — to figure in its third fiscal quarter, going toe-to-toe with Amazon, Google and Apple in the smaller tablet market.
Image Credit: Karen Bleier/Getty
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