Technology Has Radically Transformed : Lody Zeitoun Odeh

Brenner states in his article, “No Borders”, how “bookstores are victims of changing times, technologies, and economics.” In the literary, economic world, there had been two national bookstores that competed in the nation, Borders and Barnes & Noble. Sadly Borders, Barnes & Noble’s largest competitor, went bankrupt and was forced to close, due to the national recession being at its highest in 2010. Since then it has become more and more difficult for bookstores to even make it since for, “You can surf the web for a book on Amazon and probably get a better deal” (Brenner, 81). Despite this, Barnes & Noble has successfully survived in the dying literature market and has become, “One of the largest booksellers in the US” ("Barnes & Noble, Inc. SWOT Analysis", 3). Booksellers around the world are becoming rarer in our technological advance society, as these shops seem to die out

Barnes & Noble was the only retailer able to provide a wide selection of books. With the opening of the e-commerce, and the start-up of Amazon.com in 1994-95, Amazon’s revenue and net income from has seen a continuous increase, whereas Barnes & Noble’s revenue and net income over the past 10 years has steadily decreased. The success of Amazon.com and deterioration of Barnes & Noble came from Amazon’s

Throughout this past decade Globalization and technology have drastically impacted the sales of Barnes & Noble. In the recent past Barnes and Noble was faced with its biggest challenge it has faced in its history, trying to keep up with Amazon’s fire tablet. This was definitely a new challenge because unlike Barnes and Nobles past competitors such as Borders book store they were now in current competition with a specific product of a company. The Amazon tablet was like nothing consumers had seen before.

Barnes & Noble is a key player in the Book Retail Industry. This mature industry has been experiencing slow growth over the last several years, much slower than overall retail sales. Barriers to entry into this industry are quite high, and suppliers have modest influence over booksellers. The introduction of the Internet has brought about many changes to this industry. It has increased rivalry, buyer power, and substitutes. Spending time "surfing the net" is one of many substitutes to reading books nowadays. Other technological advances, such as VCR 's and video games, have replaced time otherwise spent reading. Buyers have greater influence over the industry, because they

The early 1990s is when the modern day began. In 1992, and Oxford University computer scientists named Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web. This was a data sharing space that anyone with an internet connection can access. Not just government research centers and scientists with access to top of the of the line equipment. As the 1990’s continued, the Internet continued to globalize. In 1992, Erwise was the first successful Internet browser due to the graphical user interface software it supplied. Erwise paved the way for Mosaic and eventually Netscape which accounted for 90 percent of all internet browsing activity. As the Internet started to grow faster, companies such America Online and Compuserve offered Internet through a dial-up network connection. This allowed anyone with a home phone line access to the Internet. The Internet was now expanding into residential homes and was expanding globally. In 1994, the use of the internet was expanding by 2,500 percent a year. Entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos

The largest booksellers in U.S, offers wide selection in books and products through bookstores all over the U.S. Apart from this they also operate in book publishing business. But for some years now, Barnes and Noble are facing hard times due to couple of strategic reasons.

Barnes & Noble is a well-respected name among book publishers and sellers. Prior to 1992, Barnes & Noble was a private firm. It printed, dispersed, and sold books in 68 Barnes & Noble superstores, over seven hundred B. Dalton bookstores, and other smaller bookstore chains that it attained. In 1992, to raise capital CEO Leonard Riggio decided sell stock in Barnes & Noble in an initial public offering. He wanted to use the money acquired to increase growth, reduce debt and achieve the greatest s expansion program in the bookstore business” (Cox, 1992).

Whether it be intelligent cooking or self-driving cars, it is quite evident that technology is continually being integrated into our lives. From people salivating over the new iPhone 7 to tech-fanatics gushing over the Project Ariana, technology has surely surpassed what most could even fathom.

The bookstore industry in the US is comprised of a mix of a few large chain bookstores such as Barnes and Noble and many smaller, private and/or family owned businesses. As far as market size goes, the bookstore industry accumulated approximately $14 billion in annual revenue last year, according to IBIS. The overall industry has been experiencing a decline over the last decade, largely as a consequence of the growing trend of e-commerce, and is expected to continue this trend. Many bookstores have tried to capitalize on the new trend by offering e-readers and e-books.

In October 1969 two teams of computer scientists, linked computers over telephone lines to operate as a single system. The U.S. military supported the research, hoping to get communications that would work even if part of the system were disabled or destroyed in a nuclear attack. Which turned into the genesis of the "Internet Age." In the 90s the Internet changed every aspect of the daily life. Anyone with a computer, telephone, and modem literally had a digital library at their fingers. As the 90's came to an end a new kind of technology was beginning (Malvasi, Mark G., Greene 1).

With the rise in popularity of the Internet, the death of books was prophesized. The demise of Borders, once the most viable rival to the behemoth book chain Barnes & Noble could be read as a symptom of this cultural phenomenon. However, another of Barnes & Noble's rivals, that of Amazon.com is thriving. Amazon.com introduced a new model of profitability for online retailers, first beginning with books and then branching out into digital books and other forms of goods and services. By some book enthusiasts, Borders was much beloved. "Though it was a chain, with hundreds of locations around the world, during its best years it maintained the feel of a great, expansive local bookstore, the 800-foot space multiplied by 10 or 20 (and much better organized). The choices were manifold, the employees passionate, the adventure always beginning" (Leopold 2011:2). How did this change?

This essay examines similar bookselling businesses with dissimilar outcomes, Borders Books and Amazon.com books. The essay reviews their histories and business strategies and explores reasons behind their respective success and failure.

Over the five year period until 2015-6, there was an annual decline in revenue of 10.6% (ibisworld, 2016). Numerous challenges have beset the industry, such as, lower book prices, strong competition from online retailers and a change in popularity from printed books to e-books (ibisworld, 2016). Other issues that have a significant effect on bookstores are parallel import restrictions (IBISWorld, 2016), and online retailers being advantaged by low freight charges and often no requirement to pay (GST) Goods and Services Tax (ABC, 2016).

Bookstores play an important role in the advancement of a human being. A fluctuating trend has been evidenced in this category. In July month of 2002, approximately 1065 (in million) stores were operating, which was almost double the number of bookstores (563 million) in the same month of 1992. But due to advancement in the internet and technology, this trend didn’t last long and showed a descending trend. New technology like Amazon’s Kindle E-reader, iPad, iPod, the reader can now search databases and books from home rather than visiting

newspaper reading was limited to the one serving people’s home city or town plus a national daily like The Wall Street Journal or USA Today. Now, however, local papers and any one of numerous newspapers from across the country are “only a few clicks away.”14 With all the advantages, the “virtual newspapers will become a competitive displacement for printed newspapers.”15 Studies found some support for relative constancy with growth of the Internet newspapers. A survey by Editor & Publisher found that more than one third of the users of Web sites run by newspapers said they reduced their reading of print newspapers since going online. A survey conducted in Texas reported that among PointCast Users who are predominately business people, nearly half of them spend less time reading newspapers. 16