nces in revenue generation is not as shocking as it may appear, considering that despite much less in total revenues Barnes and Noble continues to pay dividends to stockholders while Amazon.com, founded in 1994, with over a billion dollars in annual revenues, has yet to return a profit for investors. In light of Amazon.comÆs success with consumers, Barnes and Noble developed its own online virtual storefront in 1997. With respect to eCommerce marketing strategies, the companies have become fiercely competitive. Amazon.com offers its consumers more than 3 million book titles, along with sophisticated technologies that amount to one-click shopping technology which Amazon.com helped pioneer (Case, 2003).
Amazon.com has been very successful using innovative technologies and marketing that have made consumers feel that they share a relationship with the company. As one business case on the company reveals, ôMaking the customerÆs on-line experience warm and pleasant is a key Amazon.com strategy. The site retains information on each customer and even uses an information technology called collaborative filtering to recommend books based on past purchases of buyers with similar historiesö (Case, 2003, 1). In addition, the company allows readers to post their own reviews, provides profiles of many authors, allows readers to ôLook Inside!ö itÆs latest books by offering electronic excerpts, and even staff recommendations are included. Amazon.com has been so successful in marketing this personal relationship to consumers that when it was revealed the company took publisher monies to list books, angry consumers caused the company to post disclaimers and expand its policy on returning products.
Barnes & Noble entered the Internet fray late, relatively speaking, but it has come a long way since. The companies marketing strategies include electronic kiosks in all of its super stores, where consumers can interact with its Web site ...