August 25, 2009
By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team
Book selling giant Barnes & Noble recently release their second quarter sales for 2009 reporting a dip of 5% to $1.2 billion. Retail store sales were the driving of the downward trend with online ecommerce sales up 2% compared to the previous year. The store did expect a slight decrease, but luckily is doing all it can to try to off set the loss via increased online sales and purchases with their mobile app. They want to make sure that customers always have a way to browse and buy from Barnes & Noble either in person at a retail shop or online. The online sales trend mimics recent news about CD sales trending down and shifting toward digital music sales primarily via Apple iTunes and Amazon.
Barnes & Noble made another move to improve business last month by planning to purchase Barnes & Noble College Booksellers for $596m in a move that will reunite the brand. They plan to acquire all of the outstanding stock at which time the College brand will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. More college students continue to choose online as their primary means to buy college textbooks so it makes sense that Barnes & Noble would shift to meet these market changes. Despite a rough economy, the book retailer has not taken too big of a hit in comparison to other companies, which is why they plan to continue to focus on working capital management to have cash available and not need to borrow.
Amy is the co-founder of ZippyCart. She went to school for film in Cleveland, Ohio and ended up working in the field of viral video marketing, which eventually led her to her real profession: SEO. When she's not writing for ZippyCart, she can be found out and about Seattle, WA.
