Inspired Digital Retail

Barnes & Noble recently revealed their new NOOKcolor, with a laundry list of new features, the color touchscreen being the least of them.

While the NOOKcolor has all of the making of a Kindle killer and cheaper-than-iPad thunderstealer, the most interesting offering is Read In Store, which according to their site copy, allows consumers to;

Stop by any Barnes & Noble store with your NOOK or NOOKcolor in hand and read complete NOOKbooks for FREE for up to one hour per day.

Now, THAT is a brick and mortar store figuring how to integrate digital into their business strategy. Imagine if Blockbuster had adopted Netflix’s model into their retail outlets sooner and more willingly? We would all probably still have Blockbuster cards.

B&N is defining the future of their business with the NOOKcolor and not relying on old practices or third parties to sort it out. They are attempting to make their stores a viable part of the impending digital model by releasing a competitive device, services and an experience.

Consumers will ultimately determine the success of this endeavor, but so far it looks like B&N are making themselves and NOOKcolor hard to resist.

MYemail looks pretty lame and I still see no real value in LendMe™, but even so, NOOKcolor may be a stocking stuffer this year.

Recent comments

Blog comments powered by Disqus