Good Example Of Term Paper On Amazon And Barnes & Noble

[Battle between Amazon and Barnes & Noble]

Introduction
Amazon is the largest e-commerce retailer in the U.S with huge category of products served (Linden et al., 2003). Barnes & Noble is the leading competitor of Amazon. It is the fortune 500 company with largest bookseller in the U.S. (Clay et al., 2002).The paper presents the key facts and figures regarding the distribution strategies followed by these two e-retailers in the U.S.

Key facts of the battle:

Amazon and Barnes & Noble are on the verge of cold war for gaining supremacy in E-book. Amazon gives the colorful arrangement to its books while Barnes & Noble arranged the books with the name of its publishers. Barnes and Noble are exclusive publishers of titles while Amazon is the elite publisher of sorts. The strategy tracked by Barnes & Noble allowed it to attract the publishers who are reluctant to sell their e-books. Despite of this fact there is increased in the number of publishers willing to sell e-books. The number has grown to 67% in the U.S in 2014 from the 55% in 2012 (Albanese, 2013). Amazon claimed to be the largest retailer of e-books in the retail industry but Barnes and Noble aligned that this claim is false as Amazon is book broker not book store (Mellahi & Johnson, 2000).

Amazon-as a publisher

Amazon after leading the book retailer market entered into the publishing when an agreement was signed by Apple and Publishers in 2010. After signing this agreement many other retailers like Amazon etc entered in to the publishing sector. As a publisher Amazon is getting 30% of the revenue by publishing books. Amazon strategy to enter into the publishing industry is considered as totally wise decisions for small book publishers (Li, 2013). This gave the relief to the largely monopolized book publishing industry which is ruled by few publishers. These publishers did not give chance to small publishers. But Amazon entry in to publishing provided them opportunities to publish their books and written materials on larger scale (Li, 2013).
This publishing strategy can further be proved drastic for large retailers if Amazon lowers down its prices. Right now there is rift for price adjustment between Amazon executives. CEO is of the view that prices should be low as there are no printing charges involved. Lowering of charges involved in publishing and reading the books will attract more customers from new markets and new segments (Li, 2014).

Amazon-as a project publisher

Amazon is the famous retailer as well as publisher of the books. In my view Amazon can be selected as publisher for publishing the story books. It is very famous and if I get my project published through Amazon, it will be beneficial for me. Amazon has entered into the book publishing industry and it is also providing the chances to new authors. This is my initial project and so I can invest less on its publishing. Amazon's strategic decision of getting into publishing field serves as a sphere that promotes the competition element within the book industry (Marinaro, 2004). Previously book publishing industry was monopolized by huge publishers like Barnes & Noble. It gives chance to only large authors. I am new in this industry so my agent decided to publish my book from Amazon. This strategy will be helpful in gaining progress in the book publishing sector.

Post publishing relationship with publishers

The most important factor determining the book publishing is the relationship between authors and agents. Agents are vital for successful publishing of the books. Almost 80% of the books published in Different New York publishing houses are sold by agents in 2014. This figure indicates as successful impact of agents in the book publishing. Agents are also experienced in the book publishing. They also maintain inside contacts with editors and they know the editors and publishers and editors better than writers. They also know about what particular factors are helpful in choosing the best publishing book (Albanese, 2013).
It is important to have a prior relationship with editors or publishers. These agents can bring the best deal for your books and authors. Agents are also responsible for bringing the best payment for our writing and books. The best agents can also serve as best career advisors and managers. But agents are primarily needed in selling of work related to automobiles or other industries etc. For literary work you can get your publisher easily if you have high quality writing. For initial work with less financial availability you have to work for your own and sell your projects yourself (Albanese, 2013).

Barnes & Noble competing with Amazon

Berne & Noble is the largest competitor of the Amazon in the e-books retailing. With the rise of Amazon successful publishing strategy Barnes & Noble have to face continuous decline in their book sales. Amazon is following the conventional distribution channel while the Barnes & Noble have adopted the diversified distribution network. The firm is currently figuring out for the most feasible solution for competing against the Amazon. The most feasible solution for Barnes & Noble is the acquisition (Brynjolfsson and Smith, 2003). The company is currently following this strategy to compete with the huge sales of Amazon. It is getting acquisitions with Barnes & Noble colleges and institutions. This provided them with the larger book sales from respective colleges and institutions. In this way it can increase the book sales. Another method could be the hiring of agents and editors that could bring new and more customers (Jaworski et al., 2000).

References

Albanese, A. R. (2013). The Battle of $9.99: How Apple, Amazon, and the Big Six Publishers Changed the E-Book Business Overnight. VOOK.
Brynjolfsson, E., Hu, Y., & Smith, M. D. (2003). Consumer surplus in the digital economy: Estimating the value of increased product variety at online booksellers. Management Science, 49(11), 1580-1596.
Clay, K., Krishnan, R., Wolff, E., & Fernandes, D. (2002). Retail strategies on the web: Price and non–price competition in the online book industry. The Journal of Industrial Economics, 50(3), 351-367.
Frank, R. H., & Cook, P. J. (2010). The winner-take-all society: Why the few at the top get so much more than the rest of us. Random House.
Jaworski, B., Kohli, A. K., & Sahay, A. (2000). Market-driven versus driving markets. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1), 45-54.
Li, H. (2013). The Impact of Ebooks on Print Book Sales: Cannibalization and Market Expansion.
Li, H. (2014). Intertemporal Price Discrimination with Complementary Products: E-Books and E-Readers.
Linden, G., Smith, B., & York, J. (2003). Amazon. com recommendations: Item-to-item collaborative filtering. Internet Computing, IEEE, 7(1), 76-80.
Marinaro, T. S. (2004). Searching for profits with Amazon—Inside the book and in the margins. Publishing research quarterly, 20(3), 3-8.
Mellahi, K., & Johnson, M. (2000). Does it pay to be a first mover in e. commerce? The case of Amazon. com. Management Decision, 38(7), 445-452.