B&N sales fall 6.5% in fiscal 2017

Barnes & Noble (B&N) reported a 6.5% sales decline in the fiscal year ending 29 April 2017, with sales falling to US$3.89bn (A$5.1bn), reports Publishers Weekly.

Operating income for the fiscal year jumped to US$54.3m (A$71.8m), up from US$14.6m (A$19.3m) in the previous year, with the improvement attributed to B&N reducing its losses in its Nook division.

B&N’s retail business was down six percent in sales, with in-store sales down 6.3% and online sales up 3.7%. Its retail operating income fell to US$90.7m (A$119.9m), down from US$113.3m (A$149.7m) in 2016.

B&N CEO Demos Parneros, who was appointed to the role in April, said it had been a ‘challenging year’ for the company, and that B&N would focus on ‘ways to improve the business and reignite sales through an aggressive test and learn process’. He acknowledged that a sales turnaround will take ‘some time’, with a lower single-digit drop in store sales expected in fiscal 2018.

Category: International news