Barnes & Nobel's New Same Day Delivery to Provide Sales Boost

A new program offering free same day or next day delivery for Barnes & Nobel's Internet customers is expected to help the book retailer compete with Amazon.com for sales of such popular titles as "My Fractured Life,""The Secret Life of Bees," and "Atonement."

NEW YORK (PRWEB) November 5, 2003 --A new "Faster Delivery" program initiated at Barnes & Nobel's online store www.barnesandnobel.com is expected to allow the book retailer to more closely compete with e-commerce leader Amazon.com in meeting demand for such manuscripts as "My Fractured Life" by Rikki Lee Travolta, "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd, "Atonement" by Ian McEwan, and "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel.

Sales demands have completely depleted Barnes & Nobel's inventory of "My Fractured Life" three times since its release less than a year ago.

Absorbing sales from customers unable to receive the sold-out title in the same time frame from Barnes & Nobel, Amazon.com and Borders Books and Music experienced skyrocketing sales of the same book - moving up over 900,000 positions in overall sales rank.

"My Fractured Life" is in the Top 25 Entertainer Biographies ranked by Amazon.com.

The new "Faster Delivery" program is expected to help Barnes & Nobel more quickly meet demand for "My Fractured Life" and related titles by similar authors.

According to sales figures reported by Amazon.com, "My Fractured Life" is shares popularity with customers also purchasing "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd, "Atonement" by Ian McEwan, and "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel.

The multi-tiered "Faster Delivery" program offers same day service with Manhattan and next day service for residents of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Road Island, and Washington D.C., as well as customers in certain regions of Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. There is no extra charge for the service on orders of $25 or more.

"E-commerce has become an integral part of retailing, and Barnes & Noble.com is at the heart of that consumer experience. We're one of the world's top Web sites, in numbers of visitors, sales, and customer satisfaction," stated chief executive officer Marie Toulantis in a letter to shareholders.
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