CASE STUDY: Can This Bookstore Be Saved?

Use the value chain and competitive forces models to evaluate the impact of the Internet on book publishers and book retail stores such as B&N. 

• B&N would like to have the best saleroom of the book market, so they try to find competitive strategies to confront other book retailer. The company uses the value chain model to let the customer feel intimacy in the book store, many books you can just choose from internet or you can go to the book store choose the book by yourself. B&N size allows the company to stock a variety of titles and obtain discounts from distributors, thereby offering discounts to customers. 

• By constructing a value web with companies such as Microsoft, B&N can create business relationships that will provide value for them in-store and online customers. B&N uses the competitive forces model to address the pressure from new products and services. 

• When Amazon came into the book sealing market, B&N had to figure out how to compete. Unlike Amazon that it has too many products, so Amazon is hard to lock on the book market. B&N make a comfortable store that could let the people who wanted to sit down and have a look of the book before buying it. 

• With the construction of B&N online store they were able to compete by offering a more specialized inventory that would leave Amazon struggling to catch up. And the content of the book supplier will be more intense in the future. But there still will have a space for the Physical book. 

How are B&N and the book publishers changing their business models to deal with the Internet and e-book technology? 

• In 1988, even though B & N is one of the first companies to realize the development potential of the e-book and e-reader. However, at that time it did not receive any profits, so it has abandoned this project by handing over all for Amazon, B&N to abandon this strategy is correct, but in the rapid development of e-commerce later, B&N should promptly change the business model. 

• With the Internet and the increasing popularity of mobile communication equipment, the traditional bookstore chain's Way of doing business have huge impact by Internet, e-commerce. 

• Often heard bookstores out of business and have closed the news. Faced with such opportunities and risks in the form of the World, B&N bookstore in order to survive, the physical bookstore and online bookstore binding type management. On the other hand, for the sake of self-preservation, reduce churn, on the other hand also want to open up a new growth point on the Internet. 

• B&N as a new brand based networks, the use of their traditional trading channels to provide consumers with a query, download services, so readers can either check the Connaught chain headquarters stacks can provide in-kind books, you can also get an electronic version of the book B&N offers. 

• In addition, B&N bookstore in order to change the business model, launched NOOK Tablet PC, apparently launched a e-reader does not guarantee to boost sales, Barnes & Noble is also trying to use various ways to attract consumers to the book using a flow application, but these are not enough to attract consumers to buy books or e-books. B&N is not a leader in the production of electronic devices, B&N put the cart before the horse that may not help much for future development, and may even have a bad effect. 

• Most consumers will not buy a Tablet PC, which is not advanced just because they want to read books, there are many-advanced equipment can be used for consumer choice. Therefore, B&N can try and other advanced electronic equipment cooperative, win-win, improving both efficiency. 

• American Booksellers in the future, the leader will not be a single entity book shop, or a single network e-book, when B&N in the development of the Internet and e-books in the field, must not ignore the opportunities entity bookstore, has a lot of powerful entity is B&N bookstore advantage. 

Will B&N’s new strategy be successful? Explain your answer. 

• Actually every type of businesses will get benefits from using the cloud computing, especially small business. Company by using the cloud computing can reduce the IT cost. 

• The cloud computing allow business gets many benefits, it allows small business to set up a virtual office to give the company the flexibility of connecting the cloud everywhere by using any computers and device. 

• Which means employees don't have to stay at the company for O.T, which can decrease paying more salary to the employees. It also can decrease the wages on managing and the maintain on the company systems rather than purchasing very high cost systems and equipment for the company or have to give more wages for hire employee for install and update software programs, install and manage the servers and do the back up for the server. 

Is there anything else B&N and the book publishers should be doing to stimulate more business? 

• The B&N need to capitalize their profitable retail stores to create more channels of visibility fir the products. 

• The more the books are visually available, the more are the chances for it to be sold. There is need to develop small local companies and shops that serve the customers in physical and digital content both. 

• The B&N and its publishers need to develop string marketing structure and display more of its products. Since there is a large physical inventory available in the book store there are a chances that more sales will be created using the right strategy. 

• Similarly, the membership cards and the discount cards will promote sales and improve the relationship with customers.