Barnes & Noble: Managing the E-book Revolution
Rivalry and opportunities in E-Book industry at the example of Barnes &
Noble`s management
Even as the internet was still in its rapid growth phase, the idea of electronic books was gaining popularity. The comsuming public was already familiar to the idea of downloading digital content in the form of MP3 music files. Big technology firms like
Microsoft and Adobe were investing huge amounts in the industry`s future.The EBook sales grew enormously in the past few years, while the physical book sales declined. Rather, from 2009 to 2011, the sales increased from $166.9 million up to
$969.9 million. Barnes & Noble is the largest retail bookseller in the United States, operates 691 bookstores in 50 staates. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 641 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. The company conducts its online business through
BN.com, one of the web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore. Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK eReading product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. The company entered the E-Book market with launching the NOOK in 2010. All along their core business was on sales of physical books. In this time the company outlasted its long-time competitor Borders. The management of Barnes & Noble had realized its industry fundamentally changed by technological innovation, first by the rise of online retail just as the increased demand for E-Books. Today, Barnes &
Noble now stood in an unfamiliar competitive space, faced with well-heeled competitors like Amazon, Apple, Google, Adobe and Sony. Consequently, the challenge for Barnes & Noble is to manage this strong rivalry
Noble`s management
Even as the internet was still in its rapid growth phase, the idea of electronic books was gaining popularity. The comsuming public was already familiar to the idea of downloading digital content in the form of MP3 music files. Big technology firms like
Microsoft and Adobe were investing huge amounts in the industry`s future.The EBook sales grew enormously in the past few years, while the physical book sales declined. Rather, from 2009 to 2011, the sales increased from $166.9 million up to
$969.9 million. Barnes & Noble is the largest retail bookseller in the United States, operates 691 bookstores in 50 staates. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 641 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. The company conducts its online business through
BN.com, one of the web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore. Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK eReading product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. The company entered the E-Book market with launching the NOOK in 2010. All along their core business was on sales of physical books. In this time the company outlasted its long-time competitor Borders. The management of Barnes & Noble had realized its industry fundamentally changed by technological innovation, first by the rise of online retail just as the increased demand for E-Books. Today, Barnes &
Noble now stood in an unfamiliar competitive space, faced with well-heeled competitors like Amazon, Apple, Google, Adobe and Sony. Consequently, the challenge for Barnes & Noble is to manage this strong rivalry