Barnes and Noble Focuses on E-Books

Barnes and Noble Focuses on E-Books

As reading moves ever faster from hardcovers and paperbacks to electronic gadgets, the retailer is attempting to reinvent itself as a seller of book downloads, reading devices and apps.The shift was never clearer than last January, when a small group of experienced book buyers at the company was called in and dismissed. Barnes Nobles buyers were once book-selling royalty, minititans whose taste played a pivotal role in deciding which books danced up the charts.

For the bookseller there was little choice. It needed to invest in the future. Today,The air filter paper prevents abrasive like dirt from entering the engine's cylinders that would cause engine wear and oil contamination customers at BarnesandNoble.com snap up three digital books for every one physical book. When it reported results for its fiscal year ended April the company noted that sales of digital products boosted same-store sales for the year, more than compensating for the decline in consumer book sales.Barnes Nobles digital strategy represents a costly investment, but its one that appeals to Liberty Media Corp which is offering billion to buy the company even as rival Borders Group Inc. is passing into the hands of liquidators. Earlier this month, John Malone, Liberty Medias chairman, and Leonard Riggio,You take your tire off the rim and pull out the Inner tube. You need to find the hole, which can be done by pumping the inner tube with air chairman of Barnes Noble, each expressed interest in working together. Liberty Media is now reviewing the retailers books. A spokeswoman for Barnes Noble declined to comment on the sales process.

Todays Barnes Noble depends on its bookstores to introduce customers to its Nook e-readers, but its growth and future profits hinge on outfoxing and outselling deep-pocketed rivals Amazon.com Inc,silicone rubber products can be sterilized by steam, dry heat, gamma radiation and ethylene oxide Apple Inc. and Google Inc. on the digital-books front. Amazon, for example, last month disclosed that mystery writer Michael Connelly is the seventh writer to sell more than one million Kindle books.Its a balancing act, because bookstores are needed to generate excitement even though the final transaction may be digital, says Lorraine Shanley, a partner at industry-consultants Market Partners International Inc. All the big-box retailers, including Wal-Mart, are facing the same issues.


The traditional company, based at Fifth Ave. near New Yorks Union Square still focuses on its consumer bookstoreswhich stock up to titles and its college bookstores. Leonard Riggio, its chairman and largest investor as well as Mitchell Klipper the chief executive of the chains retail group, and Joseph Lombardi the chief financial officerhave their offices there.

But William Lynch, the year old Silicon Valley veteran who was named CEO in March works out of Ninth Ave. in Chelsea, where Barnes Noble.com is based. Googles New York offices are in the same building, which is across the street from an Apple store. A recent elevator ride filled with people wearing jeans and T-shirts indicated which building had the hipper vibe.