In this paper, Learning D will address the marketing tools for the online bookseller industry. Team D describes how three different websites, Barnes & Noble, Books Online and Amazon, conduct business on the internet with focus on marketing tools used within the three websites and an evaluation of the apparent customer service provided by each site of the three sites.
Barnes & NobleThe Barnes and Noble site does not heavily market major commercial partnerships; whereas this site utilizes smaller websites that drive business to their own site. The "partner sites" are fostered with an incentive program, offering the smaller companies a percentage of sales from referral links. Quarterly, if a partner refers $5,000-$24,999 worth of sales to Barnes and Noble, they receive a 1% cut of those sales. The incentive is raised accordingly maxing out at 3.5% of sales. Another marketing tool is also used with college partnerships, aligning with several schools across the nation to provide online bookstore development as well as serving as a supplier to these sites.
Noble M600
English: An example of an automated online assista...
BarnesA unique marketing method uses commercial website partnerships creating online bookstores. Boasting a one week setup time for one's own Barnes and Noble partner site, the company helps create and administers these sites with their own staff. Although these partner sites are created, no referral links are cluttering the primary barnesandnoble.com website. This link-free marketing on the site has kept Barnes and Noble ahead of the curve, but not by much. By looking at an analysis of the top three retailers, one sees that the physical stores owned by Barnes and Noble still top the list of bookstores, but the online store ranks significantly behind Amazon.com and sees only single-digit growth numbers most years according to their annual statements (Barnes and Noble, 2006).
Customer service links on the website are...