“It’s going to be one of the biggest screw-ups in the history of book retail"—An interview with Michael Norris about SIMBA Information's new Trends in Trade Book Retailing report

Book Business: Based on how things went with Borders, how do you expect that deal to play out?

Norris: If Waterstones starts selling Kindles, we can expect bad comparable store sales, ineffective loyalty programs and customers who think it’s okay to walk into a store staffed by people Amazon does not pay and ask them what they can put on their Kindles. It’s culturalizing what’s already happening now. It’s going to be one of the biggest screw-ups in the history of book retail.

Book Business: What can retailers who sell ebooks do?
Norris: I urge every retailer who does sell ebooks to buy one of their own ebooks and then buy the same or similar ebook from Amazon, then think outside of themselves and about what kind of experience is going to make people come back.

SIMBA Information’s Trends in Trade Book Retailing 2012 is available now. Visit http://www.simbainformation.com/Trends-Book-Retailing-6903769/