BARNES AND NOBLE

Barnes and Noble

Barnes and Noble

Since first acquiring a controlling interest in Barnes&Noble.com in September 2003, the company has had a continued interest in improving the online offerings to the Barnes & Noble customers (Barnes & Noble, 2009). In the time since the acquisition, Barnes & Noble has redesigned, rebuilt, and re-launched both the website and the Information Technology Department that supports it. The continued focus and increased interest in the online initiatives may come as a surprise when considering Barnes & Noble is already widely regarded as the nation's top bookseller - a bookseller who attains this mark with an inviting storefront rather than bargain basement prices.

To power the Barnes & Noble online initiatives will be a well-known and respected brand name. The complement the strength of the Barnes & Noble name, the company has reduced their prices, created a more user-friendly website, and increased the discounts for their frequent shoppers enrolled in the Member Program (Barnes & Noble, 2009). To build upon this momentum and continue moving these strategic initiatives in the desired direction Barnes & Noble is planning to add additional content to the website to improve the user's experience. Some examples of this additional content include multimedia information on books and authors, podcasts, original video programming, and other various features aimed at keeping the deal-seeking well-informed online shopper on the Barnes & Noble site and converting their visit into a sale (Barnes & Noble, 2009).

The Barnes and Noble storefront is already immensely successful; however, continued increases in buyer's preferences toward the virtual experience rather than the real life retail version, could ultimately lead to the demise of this bedrock of the bookselling industry. The choice to continually improve the online segment of the Barnes & Noble brand by broadening and enhancing the offerings of the ...