Barnes & Noble
said on Friday that its new Nook e-reader, introduced last month, is
sold out and new orders won't ship until after Christmas. Orders placed
after Nov. 19 will now ship the week of Jan. 4.
A message at the top of barnesandnoble.com's page reads, "The hottest holiday gift is out of stock. Order the Nook today to be first in line for the new year." Buyers who want to give the product as a gift can have a holiday certificate shipped to the recipient.
The retailer said last month when it introduced the $259 device, its first e-reader, that it would ship its first pre-orders by Nov. 30.
B&N's news came after Sony earlier in the week said it could not guarantee that its new Daily Edition Reader would reach online buyers in time for Christmas, although it has two other e-readers on the market. Amazon controls about 45 percent of e-reader sales in the U.S. with Sony at 30 percent, according to ISuppli Corp.
Amazon had similar out-of-stock issues on its Kindle last year but is expected to benefit since it promises to be in stock this year.
Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester Research, believes both Sony and Barnes & Noble rushed their product launches and neither was prepared to meet demand for the holiday.
"Even without specific problems in the supply chain, the manufacturing process takes time for new products -- it could be three months from the time they place the orders with their factories until they actually ship," Ms. Rotman Epps told The New York Times. "Sony and B&N wanted to show the market they could compete with Amazon for the holiday season. Consumers responded enthusiastically, but unfortunately these companies are struggling to deliver on their promise. Now they have to face disappointed consumers with empty packages under the tree."
Discussion Questions: Was it worth launching the Nook if B&N knew it wouldn't be able to meet holiday demand?