The lack of a comparable book sales-wise to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – even with the success of Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn, the Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski and Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture – took an expected toll on Barnes & Noble’s second quarter earnings. Total sales for Barnes & Noble declined 2% to $1.22 billion. Store sales were off 1.6%, to $1.1 billion, while sales through Barnes & Noble.com increased 3.6% to $99.8 million. Comparable store sales fell 4.7% at the physical stores in the period. Excluding prior year sales of the Harry Potter […]
Booksellers
Harper Finishes with Strong Quarter
HarperCollins reported fourth quarter sales of $350 million, up nearly 18 percent from $295 million a year ago, with operating income of $28 million up a third from a year ago. In the release the company says the quarter was “led by strong sales of Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey [which has sales as tracked by Nielsen Bookscan of under 60,000 copies], Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall, an updated edition of YOU:The Owner’s Manual by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz” and bestsellers like Read All About It! by Laura and Jenna Bush–leaving unresolved the question of what actually […]
Indigo Rises in First Quarter
Sales at dominant Canadian chain Indigo rose 3.1 percent in their first quarter to $191 million (CA), while their net loss was reduced by more than half, to $1.3 million. Same-store sales were up 3.3 percent at the Indigo and Chapters superstores, while the smaller format Coles stores were up 5.4 percent, and online sales rose 7.7 percent, to $21 million. Release
Amazon's Growth Continues in Q2
Amazon reported second quarter sales of $4.06 billion, up 41 percent, and net income of $158 million, more than double what they recorded last year. Those results were ahead of the consensus analyst expectations in both sales and earnings. North American media sales of $1.148 billion were up 25 percent, once again exceeded by international media sales of $1.258 billion, which rose 38 percent, helped considerably by foreign exchange. (International media sales were up the same 25 percent increment excluding exchange rates. Media incorporates “books, movies, music, digital downloads, software and video games, including game consoles.”) The company remained true […]