MANIPAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE BBM E BANKING AND FINANCE

SUBJECT - E BUSINESS
TOPICBarnes & Noble.com

SUBMITTED BY NABEEL M.K 092601123

INTRODUCTION

Barnes & Noble.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc., a publicly traded company listed on the NYSE under the symbol "BKS." Barnes & Noble.com leverages the power of the Barnes & Noble brand to offer online customers the Web's premier destination for books, eBooks, magazines, toys & games, music, DVD and Bluray, video games, and related products and services.
Barnes & Noble, Inc is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton Booksellers stores in malls until they announced the liquidation of the chain. The company is known for large, upscale retail outlets, many of which contain a caf serving Starbucks Coffee, and for competitive discounting of bestsellers. Most stores also sell magazines, newspapers, DVDs, graphic novels, gifts, games, and music. Video games and related items were sold in the company's GameStop retail outlets until October 2004, when the division was spun off into an independent company. Barnes & Noble is also known for selling the Barnes & Noble Nook, as well as various incarnations of its mascot, a teddy bear named "Barnsie". The company operates 705 stores (as of April 30, 2011) in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia in addition to 636 college bookstores that serve more than 4.6 million students and faculty members across the country.

HISTORY

Barnes & Noble originated in 1873 when Charles Barnes opened a book-printing business inWheaton, Illinois. Their first true bookstore was set up by his son, William, in partnership with G. Clifford Noble, in 1917 in New York City. The original bookstore was at 31 West 15th St., and opened during World War I. In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, the bookstore was moved to its current flagship location on 18th Street and Fifth Avenue. The business was purchased in 1971 by Leonard Riggio, who oversaw the growth of the business. In 1974, Barnes & Noble became the first bookstore to advertise on television, and a year later, the company became the first bookseller in America to discount books, by selling The New York Timesbest-selling titles at 40% off the publishers list price. During the 1970s and 1980s, Barnes & Noble opened smaller discount stores, which were eventually phased out in favor of larger stores. They also began to publish their own books to be sold to mail-order customers. These titles were primarily affordable reissues of out-of-print titles, and selling them through mail-order catalogs allowed Barnes & Noble to reach new customers nationwide.

Barnes & Noble continued to expand throughout the 1980s, and in 1987 purchased the primarilyshopping mall-based B. Dalton chain from Dayton Hudson. The last B. Dalton stores were slated to close in January 2010. The acquisition of 797 bookstores turned the company into a nationwide retailer, and as of the end of fiscal year 1999, the second-largest online bookseller in the United States. B&N's critics claim that it has contributed to the decline of local and independent booksellers. Before Barnes & Noble created its web site, it sold books directly to customers through mail-order catalogs. It first began selling books online in the late 1980s, but the companys website was not launched until May 1997. According to the site, it now carries over 2 million titles. In 2002, Leonard Riggio's brother Stephen Riggio was named CEO. Barnes & Noble has been spending millions on legal fees to defend against a lawsuit by billionaire investor Ron Burkle. Burkle is engaged in a proxy fight against chairman Steve Riggio in an attempt to change the management and direction of Barnes & Noble. Burkle is concerned about falling profits and disagrees with Barnes & Noble's e-book strategy. On August 3, 2010, the company announced that its board was considering a sale of the company, possibly to an investor group led by its chairman, Leonard Riggio. Steve Riggio was CEO from January 2003 until March 2010. Riggio began his career at Barnes & Noble in 1975 after graduating from Brooklyn College. After getting his start in the buying and merchandising departments, he became general manager and vice president of the companys direct mail division in 1981, and held that position until 1987. In 1995, he was appointed chief operating officer, and in January 2003 he was appointed CEO. According to Forbes.com, in 2007 Riggios salary was $786,358. He also earns $2,323,942 in other long-term compensation, for a yearly grand total of $3,110,480. In March 2010, William Lynch, formerly the president of the company's website, who is credited with helping launch the company's electronic book store and overseeing the introduction of its electronic book reader, the Nook, was appointed CEO, in a move that according to USA Today, underscores the importance of digital books to the bookseller's future. Steve Riggio stayed on as vice chairman.

E-RETAILING The electronic retailing of books is, of course, just the cusp of the digital revolution that will overtake our market in the years to come. As e-publishing and e-reading technologies are perfected and popularized, there will be an explosion of content in B&N future that will pale in comparison with what the Internet has so far unleashed. Today B&N distribution center houses close to one million titles on its shelves; thats 10 times the number we stocked just three years ago, and vastly larger than the inventory of any other book vendor, including wholesalers. B&N goal is to stock every known book in print. B&N out-of-print selection alone now available through Barnes & Noble.com

As B&N continue to extend their business from retail commerce to e-commerce to digital commerce, will also expand their range of content formats to meet the evolving preferences of customers in all the communities. Already, B&N are the largest consumer retailer of e-book hand-held devices in the world, both through our stores and online. Barnes & Noble.com has recently opened an e-book superstore featuring thousands of titles for immediate download. As the worlds leading bookseller, we are the partner of choice for technology companies looking to reach an affluent, educated demographic. Recently, we announced a partnership with Microsoft to promote the Microsoft Reader with ClearType, an e-book technology that provides a much better viewing experience, almost identical to print on paper. As the market for this format approaches critical mass, Barnes & Noble will be ready on every channel.

Meanwhile, B& N are helping to pry open the doors of publishing through our investment in iUniverse.com, the worlds largest publishing portal. An online service that enables writers to get work published, marketed and distributed to a worldwide market within 30 days, iUniverse can costeffectively re-release books that are out-of-print and make available the work of countless talented new writers. Finally, we announced in December our agreement with IBM to use its print-on-demand technology and manufacturing components in B&N data centres. The Internet's Largest Bookstore Taking advantage of vast warehouses across the United States, we stock over 1 million titles for immediate delivery -- that's more titles than any other online bookseller. With so many titles, it is vital to give customers an easy way to find precisely the books they are looking for. Our search engineenables customers to locate books by title, author, or keyword in a few seconds at most. Customers with a general idea of what they want can use our Browse pages to sift through hundreds of categories to find exactly the right book. To further assist users, we offer descriptions and reviews, and our See Inside program lets customers read excerpts from tens of thousands of titles. We also offer editor recommendations and customer reviews on hundreds of thousands of titles. In 2009, Barnes & Noble.com also became a leader in eBooks, offering over 1 million titles in its eBooks store and launching nook, the world's most advanced eBook reader, that features groundbreaking lending technology, a color touchscreen and lets readers download books in seconds. The B&N Marketplace offers millions of new and used items from a network of trusted Sellers, often at discounted prices -- all with the security and guarantee of BN.com. Our special collection

of Rare & Collectible Books features unique finds such as signed and first editions and out of print books. Barnes & Noble.com has also created a number of thorough, easy-to-use stores, including including Audiobooks, MP3 Audiobooks,Award Winners, Libros en espaol, and Bargain Books. As the ultimate destination for book lovers, Barnes & Noble.com offers an incredible array of content. B&N Studio features hundreds of video author interviews, Emmy-winning documentaries, and our weekly book show, Tagged! hosted by Molly Pesce, B&N Review is the leading onlineonly book review on the Web, packed with literary reviews and interviews. And our Book Clubs feature author-hosted events, buzzing discussion boards, and much, much more.

More than Books Barnes & Noble Kids is the ideal destination for anyone looking for the best in children's books, videos, and music. With age-based recommendations, as well as specialty stores that cater to Harry Potter and other big titles, it's the ultimate one-stop shop for kids. Our DVD & Blu-ray Store's 60,000+ titles make it the destination of choice for movie lovers, whether they enjoy Blockbusters, Art House rarities, or Kids' favorites. You can view more than 10,000 full-length previews -- and instantly order what you have seen -- making it the most customer-friendly site around. Our Music Store has been named the Web's best by Forbes.com. The premier site for Classical, Jazz, Rock, and World music, the store's rich content includes exclusive interviews, free downloads, over 1 million sample audio clips, nearly 100,000 music reviews, and a roster of 40,000 artist biographies. In recent years we've added new product lines, expanding our Home & Gift section to include items for the office, writer's aids, and electronics; building the best Toys & Games store on the Web, filled with exclusive and hard-to-find titles; a Magazines store offering thousands of subscriptions; and a PC & Video Games store that will satisfy every gamer's whim with thousands of new and used titles, as well as consoles, accessories, and strategy guides.

Barnes & Noble.com Makes Shopping Easy Barnes & Noble Members get Unlimited Free Member Express Shipping in 3 days or less on eligible orders. Non-members can get Free Shipping on orders of $25 or more of eligible items.We

even offer Same Day Delivery to Manhattan at no extra charge. You can send or redeem Gift Certificates or sign up for email alerts about new releases from your favorites.