Barnes & Noble to Issue Gift Certificates to Compensate for Late Nook Deliveries
Internet Retailerreports that Barnes & Noble is sending $100 gift certificates to customers who ordered a nook but did not receive it in time for Christmas because of supply issues. Barnes and Noble may have to issue as much as $200,000 worth of gift certificates because of the delay in shipping its new ebook reading device.
Barnes & Noble said the delays affected "a very small percentage of customers" who may not receive their Nook in time for Christmas Eve. "We are working very hard to keep up with the demand and to get all Nook orders out the door and to customers on or before Dec. 24," says a spokeswoman. “Unfortunately, there may be a very small percentage of customers who may not receive their nooks before the holiday.”
The multichannel bookseller has taken orders for as many as 50,000 of its Nook readers-and somewhere between 500 and a couple thousand may be affected by delay, estimates Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey. That translates into $50,000 to $200,000 worth of gift certificates.
The gift certificates should please those who ordered nooks but did not receive them in time for Christmas. The $100 gift certificates show that B&N is serious about its ebook device. It is really the bad reviews that could cause problems for nook sales. Barnes and Noble will have to make sure the second version of the gadget fixes all the glitches and software issues that reviewers are complaining about.
Internet Retailer 
