Barnes and Noble and Amazon as bookstores may appear to represent a similar approach, yet they should be considered the direct opposite of each other in terms of business and marketing strategies. Amazon is a much bigger transnational company with almost forty percent of foreign customers, which does not view book sales as its only priority (“Amazon.com vs Barnesandnoble.com”, 2021).
On the other hand, Barnes and Noble is mostly targeting the internal market with approximately seventy-five percent of domestic customers (“Amazon.com vs Barnesandnoble.com”, 2021). In addition, Barnes and Noble tends to sell anything other than books at a much lesser rate than Amazon. Even though the above-mentioned companies do not seem to belong to the same category, they are direct competitors.
Specific Criteria Comparison
Amazon and Barnes and Noble differ from one another in terms of prices, delivery options, numbers of international titles, and some other aspects such as loyalty programs or subscriptions. First, in most cases Amazon offers relatively lower prices, which may be caused both by the economies of scale and by their presence in the international markets (Williams & Reese, 2020). Second, Amazon provides a bigger variety of international titles and general quantity of books, which may have the same reasoning as mentioned above. Third, Amazon’s website may be considered more user-friendly and titles may be easier to find even though these are subjective elements.
On the contrary, Barnes and Noble has more attractive delivery options with no shipping charges and the possibility to receive the order at any store. Additionally, Barnes and Noble’s loyalty programs may be considered more beneficial as the membership price is smaller and may be stacked with other store discounts (Ketzler, 2020). Special events and author signings are conducted at Barnes and Noble and many people admit that the bookstore has a better overall customer service.
Consumer’s choice
Considering the differences between Amazon and Barnes and Noble it may be impossible to objectively determine which bookstore is more preferable for an average customer. However, with lower initial prices and a wider variety of titles, Amazon may seem to still have the first-mover advantage. Moreover, by expanding to the international markets and increasing the diversity of products, Amazon may be able to consolidate their positions on the transnational level. Therefore, an average online bookstore consumer may be likely to use Amazon due to their high practicality, and this is particularly true for the foreign consumers.
Nevertheless, there are some possible actions Barnes and Noble may undertake to maintain their positions on the bookstore market. First, the company should concentrate more on the domestic market, offering additional local services Amazon is not able to provide due to its globalization. Second, improving the website to be more user-friendly and developing a list of loyalty programs might help Barnes and Noble to conquer the consumer. Finally, by maintaining its unique events and author signings Barnes and Noble may be able to keep their faithful customers. Overall these decisions may result in Barnes and Noble getting a share of the specific market, which does not overlap with the one held by Amazon.
References
Amazon.com vs Barnesandnoble.com: Amazon and Barnes And Noble domains comparison. (2020). Easy Counter. Web.
Ketzler, M. (2020). Barnes and Noble Affiliate Program vs. Amazon for Books. Prosociate. Web.
Williams, D. M., & Reese, E. (2020). Power accrues to the powerful: Amazon’s market share, customer surveillance, and internet dominance. In J. Alimahomed-Wilson (Ed.), The Cost of Free Shipping Amazon in the Global Economy (pp. 35–49). Pluto Press.