For the fifth time in four years, beleaguered bookseller Barnes & Noble has turned to a new leader, promoting COO Demos Parneros to the position of CEO. Company founder Leonard Riggio, who has been serving as CEO since the August 2016 departure of Ron Boire, will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Parneros has been COO only since November 2016, but he brings 30 years of industry experience to his new role. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble he was President, North American Stores and Online at Staples. Parneros joined the office supplies retailer in 1987 and worked his way up through multiple management positions.
Like many other brick-and-mortar retailers, Barnes & Noble has been struggling with declining foot traffic and the costs of a 634-store footprint. During the retailer’s Q3, which ended January 28, 2017, comparable store sales declined 8.3%; retail sales, which include both the stores and BN.com, shrank 7.5% to $1.3 billion; and Nook sales plummeted 25.7% to $38.4 million. The retailer instituted cost cuts in November 2016, but these apparently have not been enough to stem the tide of red ink.
Advertisement
Attracting customers to the stores is a top priority for Parneros, according to an interview with the Wall Street Journal. The typical Barnes & Noble store is larger than he would prefer, he added, noting that the advantage from the retailer’s vast assortment of titles is less critical when consumers can find millions of books via their mobile devices.
Amazon, Barnes & Noble’s biggest rival, has also made moves into the brick-and-mortar realm, but the pure play giant is adhering to a “think small” policy with its physical stores.
Certainly Barnes & Noble is not the only retailer to shuffle its executive suite in search of new ideas. But it’s likely the bookseller would benefit from a few months, or even years, of consistent leadership.
