Essay on Borders Group, A Failed Business

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.

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.

American retailer Kohl’s has become a prevalent fixture for the purchase of discounted clothing and home goods in the mid-west for over twenty-five years. The history of the company however has roots much more modest than present day market dominance would suggest. Dating back to a Wisconsin supermarket in 1946, founder Max Kohl grew his small business to the most successful chain of supermarkets in the Milwaukee area (12). By 1962 Kohl opened his first department store in Brookfield, Wisconsin where an eclectic selection of merchandise, from sporting goods, motor oil and candy, was sold (11). In 1972, the Kohl’s Company which by then consisted of 50 grocery stores, six department stores, three drug

Kmart is a huge vintage company that had peeked at one time and now is

By 1979 the company had seen rapid expansion and had a total of 26 stores. Further expansion ensued through a combination of mergers and acquisitions. In 1980 B&Q bought

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.

There were also proprietary brands that were held by both Kmart and Sears, and with the merger it would be easier to get those brands out to the target demographics. Making each

Currently Kmart has been constantly losing to competitors such as Wal-Mart and Target. Target is seen as a higher class store compared to the other two, and Wal-Mart is seen as a good store with good prices. Kmart has had trouble finding it’s own identity. They try to market themselves as being a better bargain than Wal-Mart, but the store is viewed as being “cheap” from the customer’s point of view. Kmart tried to fix that, by bringing in the Martha Stewart line. They

However, Amazon compete with them very well. Also, due to wide variety of products, their competitors ranges from retailers, merchandise retailers, online internet retailers,etc. In the late 1990's it provide competition to the bookselling industry and forced Barnes & Noble to launch their online website. Barnes and Noble offers books, DVDs, and CDs, which directly competes with Amazon.com's media segment. Amazon.com competes against all competitors on selection, convenience, and customer experience as well as price. Barnes & Noble had not been successful in online business and they decided to partner with Amazon.com

In addition, meticulous efforts are directed at strengthening and expanding strategic alliances with third-party websites and content providers to attract users to its online stores. Marketing agreements with major Web portals and content sites, such as America Online ("AOL"), Microsoft and Lycos, have extended brand and consumer exposure to its online stores. Using the network of over 500 Barnes & Noble retail superstores and its relationship with Bertelsmann, one of the largest integrated media companies in the world, will help bn.com gain a significant advantage in cross-marketing and co-promotion programs, as well as, negotiating with online portals, distribution partners and media companies. Recently,

Amazon is a company that sells many open product categories online by allowing customers to take the time to search and shop through the product offerings. Many product categories that are offered on Amazon may include device accessories, kindle devices, beauty, books, electronics, health & personal care, etc. The foremost product category that can offer the greatest advantage compared with a retail store chain is most definitely the books category. Reason to this is that the company has expanded the customer’s online shopping experience by offering such a wide range of physical and electronic books, depending on the preference of the customers. They are able to search for the top-rated selling

Amazon is a relatively small player in the bookstore industry, and its main competitors are Barnes & Noble and Borders. Despite the difference in scale, the company shows great promise, because its business model overcomes many of the competitors’ drawbacks.

Amazon.com, Inc. is the leading online retailer of books. The ¡§Earth¡¦s Biggest Bookstore¡¨ opened its virtual doors in July 1995 with a mission to use the Internet to transform book buying into the fastest, easiest, and most enjoyable shopping experience possible1. Amazon still holds their commitment to customer satisfaction and the delivery of an educational and inspiring shopping experience in high regard today and it is now one of the most widely known, used and cited commerce sites on the World Wide Web (WWW).