Barnes and Noble 2010 Annual Report Download - page 5

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40,000 booksellers across the country, who have been on the front lines
enthusiastically educating customers about eReading and selling the vast majority
of our devices in our bookstores every day. Our bookstores have always been and
will remain a destination for book lovers. And, we will continue to drive
traffic to our stores through our digital programs and promotions, which are
giving our customers another reason to shop with us.
Another important milestone for 2009 was the acquisition of the Barnes & Noble
College bookstore business. Bringing together the Barnes & Noble retail and
college businesses allowed us to reunify the brand and add a very predictable
and growing revenue stream to BKS. In this rapidly changing environment, both
companies are benefiting from the unified digital platform and brand. In fact,
our college business is at the forefront of transforming the college bookselling
industry. Today, we offer more choices for students to acquire their course
required materials. Students can buy their textbooks new or used, they can rent
them, or they can buy them in digital format.
We believe the movement of textbook sales towards online and digital formats
will accelerate decisions by colleges and universities to seek a partner like
Barnes & Noble to operate their stores. As of this writing, Barnes & Noble has
introduced NOOKstudy™, a revolutionary, easy-to-use online reading and study
platform which offers higher-education students instant downloads of eText-
books and academic and trade titles using the computing device they rely on
most, their PC or Mac.® NOOKstudy is also compatible with the company’s entire
catalog of eBooks and digital content.
In summary, we believe that all evidence is pointing to yet another rapid growth
phase for the book industry, and we couldn’t be more excited. As digital and
online sales accelerate, Barnes & Noble remains well positioned to gain a
significant share of these exciting new markets. We believe the growth rate will
continue to accelerate over the next few years, and our sales are growing at an
even faster rate and gaining momentum every day. We are confident that in the
years ahead, our market share will grow across all segments of our business as
our investments in the future pay off. Our goal going forward will be to place a
Barnes & Noble bookstore in every reader’s pocket.
Sincerely,
Chairman
2010 Annual Report 3