Barnes & Noble: Nook "Single Best-Selling Product"; CEO Rebuffs iPad Fears
Calling the “Nook,” eBook reader its “single best-selling product,” Barnes & Noble (BKS) CEO Steve Riggio this morning argued the gadget is helping lure customers to its stores and boosting online traffic.
On a conference call with analysts following a disappointing outlook from the company this morning, Riggio said sales of Nook, which it described as “strong,” helped boost online sales for the company by 67 percent in the January ending fiscal Q3. Had the company had more units in stock, that 67 percent increase would have been higher, argued Riggio.
However, the Nook helped to drag down gross profit by one percentage point in the quarter.
Nook sales should somewhat offset the trend to lower same-store sales this quarter, the company said.
Much as with Amazon.com (AMZN) and its “Kindle” eReader, Riggio declined to give sales figures.
