Innovadores e imitadores: innovación vs. gravitación

La historia se repite una y otra vez (Netflix vs. Blockbuster, McCaw Cellular vs. (el antiguo) AT&T, Pixar vs. Disney, Google vs. Microsoft...)

Ahora el turno es para el (otrora) gigante de las cadenas de librerías en USA: Barnes&Noble, que se rinde ante el avasallador éxito del pionero e innovador Amazon.com

Aquí la crónica desde el WSJ by James B. Stewart

Extracto:

"How did Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS - News) fall so far so fast?

The giant bookstore chain, whose superstores once struck fear into the hearts of independent booksellers everywhere, put itself up for sale this month, rendering it the corporate equivalent of the remaindered books it sells at a discount.

The company said it made the move because its shares are undervalued, but to me there was an air of desperation about it.

The simple explanation for Barnes & Noble's decline is the Internet, which spawned Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN - News), e-readers and digital books. But that didn't have to be the end for B&N, which had a dominant market position and should have out-Amazoned Amazon, leveraging its brand and innovating when it began marketing and selling books online.

I know exactly when B&N lost me as a customer. Some years ago, to compete with Amazon, B&N began offering free same-day delivery in Manhattan if you placed your order over the Internet by 11 a.m. I did so several times -- and not once did the books arrive when promised. Everything I have ordered from Amazon has arrived on time or earlier. Then came Amazon's game-changing Kindle, and instant delivery. Nothing I've read about B&N's belated rival Nook has tempted me to try it.

My hunch is that B&N never really embraced the Internet or e-books, tied as it was to the old-fashioned world of physical books and stores. As B&N focused on managing decline, a much more nimble Amazon could concentrate exclusively on the new world it was forming. B&N needed to destroy its business model to prevail. Now it is probably too late. There is a lesson for all businesses here."

Jobs-To-Be-Done que la librería tradicional dejó "vacantes":

"I can't say I miss physical books. My shelves are already groaning and can't accommodate any more. I do miss the bookstore I grew up with in the Midwest and the small stores that once dotted my neighborhood. Could B&N's decline pave the way for the return of the independent bookseller?

Despite the array of suggestions tailored to my interests (or at least to my recent purchases) that appear when I open the Amazon site, I still yearn for someone intelligent who can recommend a good book. I enjoy the community of other people who love books. I like talking to someone both before buying a book and after reading it. I think independent bookstores may be able to provide these services even while selling over the Internet. Their overhead should be lower, since they don't need to carry huge inventories of physical books and don't need huge retail spaces. Maybe I'm naive, but I'd like to think there are new opportunities for booksellers."