Executive Summary

Barnes and Noble is the market leader in the bookstore industry. They have grown their business during tough economic times and have adapted well to the changing consumer demands as technology has advanced. By continuing to enhance their competitive strategy to align themselves with market demands, Barnes and Noble, with its multi-channel distribution platform, will continue to have success in the coming years as competition will feel the pressures of increasing digital mediums and decreasing hard copy book demand. This internal analysis of Barnes and Noble will examine their competitive position with regards to their value chain and strategic issues, as well as examine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
To add value to their customers they have negotiated terms with these vendors that allow procurement to purchase the items and quantities they desire based on their computerized inventory system. This keeps inventories at a minimum to reduce cost which is transferred to the customer in the form of lower prices.
Operationally, Books-a-million functions similarly to Barnes and Noble. They opened 52 stores in 2012 and closed 26. While the number of stores is growing, Books-a-million makes sure to sign short term renewable lease agreements in order to keep their financial commitments in order to align with the possible changes in the economy, local demographics, or general poor performance. A weakness Books-a-million has as compared to the operations of Barnes and Noble is the extent of which their ecommerce business segment
Books-a-million adds value to their customers through their distribution activities. They centralize the majority of their inventory receipts at their subsidiary, American Wholesale. At this facility, the shipments are arranged for all stores at the desired inventory levels and after being shipped to their specified location, are loaded with inventory that is marked as obsolete to be returned to the vendor for credit. This system allows Books-a-million to control their cost of inventory as well as their cost of sales.
Similar to Barnes and Noble, Books-a-million