Nook sales falter amid tablet battle

Barnes & Noble Inc. posted a decline in retail sales in the Christmas-shopping season as the largest U.S. bookstore chain’s efforts to take on Apple Inc.’s iPad with tablet-style Nooks fell flat with shoppers.

Sales from stores and the website sank 11 percent to $1.2 billion, the New York-based company said last week in a statement. Revenue at the Nook unit, which includes devices, accessories and content, fell 13 percent to $311 million.

Barnes & Noble’s Nook division is key to the company’s future as it tries to capture consumers switching to reading electronic books. The retailer released two new versions of the Nook tablet for the holidays, around the same time Apple introduced a smaller version of the iPad designed to keep customers from buying low-cost tablets from competitors.

“Success of the iPad mini likely pressured sales of Nook tablets,” David Schick, an analyst at Stifel Financial Corp., wrote in a note.

Barnes & Noble didn’t break out results for specific Nook models. Sales of digital content rose 13 percent. They more than doubled during last year’s holiday season and surged 38 percent in the quarter ended Oct. 27.

“Nook device sales got off to a good start over the Black Friday period, but then fell short of expectations for the balance of holiday,” William Lynch, chief executive officer, said in the statement.

In December, Barnes & Noble announced that sales for the holiday period were below forecasts. So-called samestore sales, a key measure of a retailer’s growth because only established locations are counted, dropped 8.2 percent, the retailer said.