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Nook Price Cuts in the UK Are Helping B&N Get Their eReaders Out There, Director Says

With eReader sales declining in the last two quarters, B&N finds itself under pressure

Sep 30, 2013 09:05 GMT  ·  By
B&N aggressive price strategy with Nook readers, to increase their popularity
   B&N aggressive price strategy with Nook readers, to increase their popularity

Recently price declines for Nook products in the UK are starting to make people wonder whether the book giant is having problems with the eReader sales. In an interview with Mashable, managing director of Barnes & Noble Jim Hilt insists that the company isn't going through a dark phase, on the contrary, it is trying to reach every possible customer in the country.

Last week we have seen Barnes & Noble axe down the prices for its Nook Simple Touch GlowLight quite significantly to £49 / $87 / €58. A few months before the company did the same with its Nook Simple Touch Reader, bringing down its price tag to £29 / $47 / €35.

The two digital book libraries have been out on UK retail shelves since last year, but since then they didn’t seem to attract a lot of customers. And Jim Hilt believes it happened for a very good reason.

“A number of people in the UK haven’t made the transition [to digital reading]. There’s a perception that they’re priced too highly or the quality of the product hasn’t been sufficient.”

So the company is trying to attract new customers to its digital book wonderland by aggressively pricing its eReaders so conveniently, knowledge geeks can’t say no.

It appears that ever since B&N axed the prices for its Nook Simple Touch almost in half, the company is struggling to keep up with the demand.

Will the Nook Simple Touch GlowLight’s fate be as fortunate as its brother? In all possibility yes, as the eReader is the only of its kind featuring an integrated light priced below to £49 / $87 / €58.

Vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, Thomas Husson voiced his opinion on B&N’s pricing strategy in an email sent to Mashable in which he said that “The price cut seems to indicate they want to fight Amazon at their own game with lower prices.”

“Looking at the ranking of the Nook apps in the UK Google Play and Apple App Store, it seems like B&N has not yet managed to create an ecosystem around their devices in the UK.”

A bunch of revamped eReaders might help the company make a comeback though.