As
Amazon celebrated its 20th anniversary with blowout deals on July 15th,
Walmart didn’t stand by and let the world’s biggest digital retailer eat its
lunch. Walmart, the No. 1 US retailer that’s 3.5 times its nearest competitor,
dropped prices on its products and shipping, seeking to be the dominant force
that it’s been for decades. Where was
Barnes & Noble, the No. 1 book retailer for brick and mortar sales, in all
of this?
B&N
was busy selling two colossal blockbusters - the debut of Go Set A Watchman,
the long-awaited follow-up from Harper Lee and Grey, the latest installment to
the 50 Shades of Grey erotica by E L James.
But Barnes & Noble is not anywhere near the top 10 retailers in the
United States. Surprisingly, neither is
K-mart, Sears, Macy’s, Gap, Apple, or any toy companies, pet supply companies, or sporting goods
stores.
No. 1 Wal-Mart 334
billion dollars in annual sales in 2014
No. 2 Kroger $103B
No 3 Costco $79.7B
No 4 Home Depot $74.2B
No 5 Walgreen $72.7B
No 6 Target $72.6B
No 7 CVS $68B
No 8 Lowes $34.8B
No 9 Amazon $49.4B
No 10 Safeway $36.3B
Amazon
is the fastest-growing company of the Big 10, seeing sales jump 22.8% last
year. Only Kroger earned double-digit growth (10.1%) last year, the only other of those 10 companies to do so. Safeway was the only one to go backwards, losing
2.1% of its revenues.
Compared
to a decade ago, seven of today's top 10 were in the top 10 then as well, but
everyone’s shifted spots except for Walmart.
Surely in a decade forward Amazon, based on current growth patterns,
will surge as high as No. 2 – barring a total collapse by Walmart. Further, you’ll see a continued consolidation
of dominance between Walmart and Amazon, as they each continue to get in
everyone’s business and sell every possible product.
Bookstores
collectively, if acting as a singular entity, would fail to crack the Top 10
spots for retail. That’s a shame. Books
should be a force and a leading retail contender.
Maybe
the real question is: How can we get each of the top retailers to carry more
books, sell more copies, and grow the reading public? Some, like CVS and Walgreens, sell some
books. Target and Costco too. Walmart and of course Amazon do as well. Home Depot needs to join in and sell more
books beyond a random gardening guide.
As the retail landscape grows and changes, books must remain a vibrant part of the economy.
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Brian Feinblum’s views,
opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his
employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him
at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the
third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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