Barnes and Noble Wants College Students
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After five years of slumping sales, Barnes and Noble announced its decision to make crucial structural changes to the company in hopes of raising market shares. According to Business Wire, last week the massive book retailer filed a Registration Statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to officially split up certain divisions of the company. This means that Barnes and Noble Education is now a separate business from Barnes and Noble Retail and Nook Business.
Financial analysts believe the change will allow Barnes and Noble to better market to a largely untouched segment of college students. Barnes and Noble Education primarily includes textbook sales and other educational materials for university students. Fortune.com estimates the potential market size to be worth around $774 million. Having this separation ensures that the company can focus on college students while maintaining other areas of the company. Already Barnes and Noble has opened over a dozen new academic super stores on college campuses in the US. Each of these stores offers traditional textbooks along with collegiate merchandise and café items.
For the book industry, Barnes and Noble’s decision has a few major implications. Competitors like Amazon will need to continue to offer aggressive deals to avoid losing students who prefer to go to their campus bookstore. Also, publishing giants such as McGraw and Pearson will need to maintain strong relationships with professors who use these companies due to the high levels of customer service and digital supplemental material they offer. In spite of the difficulties Barnes and Noble will face, college students may be the customers Barnes and Noble needs.
Works Cited
Business Wire. “Barnes & Noble to Separate College Business from Retail and Nook® Digital Businesses.” Business Wire. 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150226005203/en/Barnes-Noble-Separate-College-Business-Retail-Nook%C2%AE#.VO_DvnzF-So
Iyer, Ramkumar. “Barnes & Noble to Keep Nook Business, Spin off College Books Unit.” Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/26/us-barnes-noble-divestiture-idUSKBN0LU1NE20150226
Wahba, Phil. “In About-face, Barnes & Noble Now Wants to Keep Nook.”Fortune. 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. http://fortune.com/2015/02/26/barnes-noble-college-prospects/
