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the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
on March 18, 2010, on the identification of operating seg-
ments and reporting units in future filings.
B&N RETAIL
To address dynamic changes in the book selling industry,
Barnes & Noble is repositioning its business from a store-
based model to a multi-channel model centered in internet
and digital commerce.
In July 2009, Barnes & Noble launched one of the world’s
largest eBookstores and digital newsstand, which allows
customers to purchase over one million eBooks, news-
papers and magazines. Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore is
available on a wide range of digital platforms, includ-
ing NOOK™, iPad™, iPhone®, iPod touch® and select
BlackBerry® and Motorola™ smartphones, as well as most
laptops or full-sized desktop computers. Barnes & Noble
has implemented innovative features on its digital platform
to ensure that customers have a seamless experience across
their devices.
In October 2009, Barnes & Noble launched NOOK™, the
Company’s proprietary eReader, which is sold at Barnes
& Noble retail stores, Barnes & Noble.com, Best Buy and
BestBuy.com.
Barnes & Noble is currently the only enterprise to offer
readers the option of store visits, eCommerce, and digital
delivery of books to Barnes & Noble-branded devices or
other devices of their choosing.
Barnes & Noble’s digital strategy is to:
tuse its infrastructure to deliver digital content to cus-
tomers wirelessly and online;
tutilize the strong Barnes & Noble brand and retail foot-
print to attract customers to its multi-channel platform;
tdevelop innovative technology; and
texpand its distribution channels through strategic
partnerships with world-class hardware and software
companies.
Barnes & Noble’s typical retail store offers a comprehensive
title base, eReaders and staff who can assist customers with
digital content, a café, a children’s section, a music/DVD
department, a newsstand and a calendar of ongoing events,
including author appearances and children’s activities,
which make each Barnes & Noble store an active part of its
community. The Company’s leading “community store”
concept complements its eCommerce platform, Barnes &
Noble.com, which offers direct home delivery of millions
of books, music CDs, DVDs/BluRay discs and other related
items, which include complementary categories such as
toys, games, electronics and gift items.
Barnes & Noble stores range in size from 3,000 to 60,000
square feet depending upon market size, with an overall
average store size of 26,000 square feet. In fiscal 2010, the
Company reduced the Barnes & Noble store base by 0.1
million square feet, bringing the total square footage to
18.7 million square feet, a 1.5% decrease from fiscal 2008.
Each store features an authoritative selection of books,
ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 unique titles. The com-
prehensive title selection is diverse and tailored to each
store location to reflect local interests. In addition, Barnes
& Noble emphasizes books published by small and inde-
pendent publishers and university presses. Bestsellers (the
“top ten” highest selling hardcover fiction and hardcover
non-fiction titles) typically represent between 3% and
5% of Barnes & Noble sales. Complementing this exten-
sive in-store selection, all Barnes & Noble stores provide
customers with on-site access to the millions of books
available to online shoppers while offering an option to
have the book sent to the store or shipped directly to the
customer through Barnes & Noble.com’s delivery system.
All Barnes & Noble stores are equipped with the Company’s
proprietary BookMaster in-store operating system, which
enhances the Company’s merchandise-replenishment
system, resulting in high in-stock positions and produc-
tivity at the store level through efficiencies in receiving,
cashiering and returns processing. The Company is in the
process of integrating the BookMaster system used in each
store with Barnes & Noble.com so that its customers share
the same experience across both channels.
The Company has a multi-channel marketing strategy that
deploys various merchandising programs and promotional
activities to drive traffic to both its stores and website. At
the center of this program is Barnes & Noble.com, which
receives over 450 million visits annually, ranking it among
the top 15 multi-channel retailer websites in terms of
traffic, as measured by Comscore Media Metrix. Barnes
& Noble.com leverages the power of the Barnes & Noble
brand to offer online customers a premier destination for
books, eBooks, magazines, toys & games, music, DVD and
BluRay, video games, and related products and services. In
fiscal 2010, Barnes & Noble.com also became a leader in
eBooks, offering over one million titles in its eBooks store
and launching the award winning NOOK™, the world’s
2010 Annual Report 9