Barnes And Noble

In contrast to Borders Group, Barnes & Noble which is a leading bookstore in the US recorded an 11% increase in their share value in the past year with the introduction of their e-book reader “Nook”. It is clear that Barnes & Noble were not “Myopic” in their approach and were able to retain and even grow their customers as well as profits by embracing a new product.

The bookstore chain has been decreasing in profit in the US over the past 20 years. Most of the books retailers are shutting down their operations and only a few are still operating in the country. Barnes and Noble has become the largest bookseller in the book retailers industry. The firm has integrated its business philosophy into web presence though eBook marketplace. This business strategy assisted the firm to be able to reach a large scale customers and remain as a strongest competitor in the book retailing market.

There is a competitive advantage of Barnes & Noble stores and their 40,000 booksellers. The stores and booksellers have tanked up the sales of NOOK devices same as NOOK reading applications for iPhone, PCs and other mobile devices. The company had more than 700 of the most heavily and best-trafficked retail locations with a combination with 40,000 passionate booksellers that affords the company the ability to sell and educate millions of people whom was interested in digital reading every day.

Barnes & Noble does business -- big business -- by the book. As the #1 bookseller in the US, it operates about 650 superstores throughout 49 states and the District of Columbia under the banners Barnes & Noble, Bookstop, and Bookstar, as well as about 200 mall stores using the names B. Dalton, Doubleday, and Scribner's. The company's GameStop subsidiary is the #1 US video game retailer with about 1,500 stores under the names Babbage's Etc., GameStop, and FuncoLand. Barnes & Noble owned about 75% of online book seller barnesandnoble.com after purchasing Bertelsmann's interest in 2003; Barnes & Noble then purchased all remaining shares and took the company private in May 2004.

While value is a competitive advantage for Barnes and Noble’s retention of market share, their prices are not low enough to impose a low cost strategy.

able to stay on top of their costs, as well as that of their competitors. Costing is a very tricky business in

Barnes & Noble was created by Charles Barnes and opened the first store in 1917 in New York City. Barnes & Noble is the largest retail bookseller and a leading retailer of digital media and educational products. The company operates 640 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble’s mission statement is to “operate the best omni-channel specialty retail business in America, helping both our customers and booksellers reach their aspirations, while being a credit to the communities we serve (Booksellers, 2012).

Strategy is a set of complicated tactics formulated by the executives of a company directed towards the achievement of company’s goal (Salmela, 2002). It is about all the path ways that a company would follow to reach its ultimate goal. It is a company’s strategy which helps to identify what it does better than the other companies in the industries, which may be different from what it does best. For successful strategy formulation and implementation, a company should know the needs of customers and should have knowledge of its competitors. Through a good strategy a company would identify that opportunity which makes it different from the others (Thompson, 2005).

We chose go to Barnes and Nobles, because we are fascinated by their ability as a company to target multiple age groups and sustain being successful. Their target market are people that love to learn and enjoy reading. They appeal to all age groups not just one market segment and are able to do so as a result of their variety of different sections. They stack the shelves, as you can see in the pictures below, abundantly full with their products, however when shopping we noticed they are almost too cluttered with too many things on them to make a choice simple.

The first goal this company sets in its mission statement is “to operate the best specialty retail business in America, regardless of the product [it sells]” (B&N website). Through its focus on providing a comfortable atmosphere, employing knowledgeable staff, and offering a wide range of quality products, Barnes & Noble, Inc. is well-known and respected throughout the United States. This store has achieved a level of success rare in specialty retailers through its commitment this goal.

My first transaction was on January 25, 2016 at the Buffalo State Barnes & Noble Book Store. This transaction was to buy a book for class. The Buffalo state book store has a wide range of merchandise, including textbook rental, new, used, and digital textbooks; trade books; special-order books; emblematic clothing; art, school, and office supplies; greeting cards; gifts; and computer supplies. Although it is very convenient their prices for their items are relatively high, and for that reason I did not purchase the book from the school store. The sales representative I worked with was a student at Buffalo State College. I did make a purchase at the end of the encounter.

1-In order for Barnes and Nobles to use the Value Chain and Competitive Force Models they needed to be ingenious with their tactics. First, publishers are on B&N side and they are doing everything to make sure that B&N stay at float because they are basically their “bread and butter”. So B&N is securing supplier intimacy with the publishing companies which will lead to strengthening its loyalty relationship with its customer in the store and digitally. Second they are securing their niche in the market, they are doing this by having the stores advertise and communicate to their customer that a there is a specific book that “is a big deal” and B&N is offering an extensive inventory of physical books and it enhance its core competency. Microsoft announced in 2012 that they would be investing $300 million in B&N Nook tablet, e-reader business and its college division. This will enable them to included Windows 8 operating system in Nooks application; this is a space where it will have a product differentiate.

After analyzing the Barnes and Noble Inc. financial statement, I found out that the financial of this company is declining. The management creates a business plan that includes new innovative and creative ideas to attract customers, and increase their finance. Barnes and Noble seems to run the risk to have its equity decrease, by looking at the income statements we could determine a net income decrease of $24,446 in a year period. After analyzing this I realized that Barnes and Noble might be force to closed their business between five to seven years.

Barnes & Noble are taking different tacks with regard to agreements with authors agents, and publishers. Amazon is pulling content off the market and padlocking it to their Kindle. In response, Barnes & Noble is refusing to stock Amazon published titles in its brick-and-mortar stores. Barnes & Nobles' investment in the well-received, well-reviewed Nook appears to have been a solid business decision, the ripples of which will continue to be felt for some time. In fact, the Nook is the proverbial finger in the dike as the waters of Amazon continue to threaten the very infrastructure of the publishing business by eroding the relationship between publishers and bricks-and-mortar stores.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. operates as a content, commerce, and technology company in the United States. It provides access to books, magazines, newspapers, and other content through its multi-channel distribution platform. The company sells its products directly to customers through its bookstores and on barnesandnoble.com. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com, one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than 3 million titles in its eBookstore.  Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK eReading product offering, customers can buy and read eBooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK eBook