The eBusiness of Books
eBusiness EBUS/400
Lisa Graham
July 18, 2007
The eBusiness of Books
Over the next four weeks, the authors will analyze three websites that market books. These three websites include Half-Price Books, Barnes and Noble, and Borders Books/Amazon. They will describe the "look and feel" of those websites and the subjective ease or difficulty of navigation for each of those sites. They will explain the supply chain modifications necessary when doing business online versus a brick and mortar store. Finally, the analysis will describe the legal, ethical, and regulatory issues that web sites must address and how each site handles security, confidentiality, and international issues. An explanation of the marketing tools used at each website and an overview of the customer service similarities and differences provided by the sites will also be included.
Today, with the use of the computers, the field of electronic commerce has blossomed into a multi-billion dollar industry, due in part to the ease of use and availability of computer equipment and high speed connectivity to the world wide web.
Half-Price is just one of millions of retailers that have found it necessary to have a presence on the web. Half Price books recycles and reuses overstock and gently used books in good condition. Half Price books is no doubt the most eco friendly of the three retailers. One of America's favorite bookstores opened in 1972 with over 2,000 new and used books from its co-founders. Today, Half Price books has 85 retail stores in 14 states (halfpricebooks.com, 2006). To keep up with eBusiness, Half-Price has developed a web site that is clearly tabbed with six de ...