BRINGING BOOKS TO THE WEB
By David Brand

Online retailers of popular books collectively logged over 28 million unique visits in December, according to current statistics from Top9.com (www.top9.com), a search directory that ranks Web sites based on the number of unique visits they receive. Given this fact, ICSC decided to undertake a side-by-side comparison of different types of online book retailers. To do this with some degree of fairness, we looked exclusively at Top9.com’s list of online retailers of popular books, only considering those that sell paperback and hardcover books. Using these criteria, we came up with the most visited pure-play book retailer (operating online only), clicks-and-mortar book retailer (both online and offline presence), and book club. Top9.com’s rankings are derived from PC Data’s previous month’s count of the number of unduplicated visitors to each site, which is determined by monitoring the Web access of 85,000 households.

Based on the above, Amazon.com (www.amazon.com) is unsurprisingly the most visited book retailer on the Web, with 13,836,000 unique visitors in December 1999. This also indicates that it is the top pure-play book retailer. Number two is barnesandnoble.com (www.bn.com), with 5,643,000 unique visitors, making it the top online book retailer with a bricks-and-mortar presence. The Literary Guild’s site (www.literaryguild.com), with 571,00 unique visitors, comes in fifth, and is the top online book club based on the number of visits.

As these numbers indicate, Amazon.com received about twice as many visitors as barnesandnoble.com in December. The latest available sales figures show that for the fourth quarter of 1999, Amazon.com reported sales of $650 million, while barnesandnoble.com reported sales at $81.5 million for the same period. This is not of course an accurate comparison, since Amazon.com now sells much more than books (See Table 1), and it is not known exactly what percentage of reported sales for either company were books only. Moreover, it should not go unnoticed that Amazon.com was the first to establish an online brand presence in the book category when it did so in July 1995, nearly two years ahead of the launch of barnesandnoble.com in March 1997. This may be another significant contributing factor in the difference in sales and visitors.  As for the Literary Guild, no sales figures could be found.

TABLE 1: MERCHANDISE OFFERINGS

Amazon.com	barnesandnoble.com	Literary Guild
Books Music DVD & video Electronics Software Toys Video games Home Improvement Auctions Z-shops (other sellers offer goods)	Books Music Prints Posters Software Magazines ECards (greeting cards)	Books

Table 2 compares the features on the sites, which shows little discernible difference between Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com, yet many limitations at the Literary Guild’s site. There is no story to tell in terms of merchandised pricing; the prices on identical merchandise at each site are within pennies in almost every instance.

There are other factors to consider as well when looking at these sites. First is the amount of available book titles at each site. Many books available at Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com are not available through the Literary Guild.  In addition, the Literary Guild is a book club, and as such, one must attain membership by agreeing to buy four books during the first two years of membership in exchange for receiving their first five for less than $2. It is also worth noting that not all books listed on this club’s site are available as introductory selections, thus rendering slim the number of options a new club member might have.

TABLE 2: COMPARISON OF SITE OFFERINGS

Information Offered:	Amazon.com	barnesandnoble.com	Literary Guild
Picture of Book	X	X	X
Price	X	X	X
Publisher List Price	X	X	X
Availability	X	X
Type (hardcover, paperback)	X	X
Physical size	X
Page length	X	X
Publisher	X	X
Publication date	X	X
Sales Rank	X
Gift Suggestions	X	X	X
Customer Rating	X	X
Geographic popularity	X
Listing of other editions	X	X

 

When the differences in the prices of standard ground shipping for each site are examined, there is little dissimilarity between the three sites (See Table 3), unless one is in the habit of buying more than six books at a time. Looking strictly at shipping prices, the Literary Guild appears to be a good choice for a larger book purchase as they charge a maximum of $8.85 on all orders of five or more books.  This is illustrated in the example below of a purchase of seven books at each site. (See Table 4.)  It is also worth taking a look at the difference in shipping times advertised at each site. (See Table 3.) Perhaps warehouse locations, shipping companies, and staffing issues are at play here.  As for the difference in tax rates (See Table 3), each online retailer is required to collect tax if it has a physical presence in that state, which includes offices.  It is not known if taxation is a factor in a consumer’s choice of site.

TABLE 3: SHIPPING RATES, SHIPPING TIMES AND TAXATION RATES (BOOKS ONLY)

	Amazon.com	barnesandnoble.com	Literary Guild
Standard Ground Shipping Rates:	$3.00/order+$.99/item	$3.00/order+$.95/item	$3.65/for 1st item $2.10/each 2nd & 3rd item $1.00/for 4th item no charge 5th and up
Shipping Times:	3-7 business days	5-9 business days	7-10 business days
Tax rates:	None except for state of Washington	Applied only in NY, NJ, VA, and TN	Applicable tax rates for each state books are shipped to

TABLE 4: COST OF SHIPPING BY # OF BOOKS PER ORDER (STANDARD GROUND)

	Amazon.com	barnesandnoble.com	Literary Guild
One Two Three Four Five Six Seven	$3.99 $4.98 $5.97 $6.96 $7.95 $8.94 $9.93	$3.95 $4.90 $5.85 $6.80 $7.75 $8.70 $9.65	$3.65 $5.75 $7.85 $8.85 $8.85 $8.85 $8.85 (maximum rate)

So where might the online consumer find the most advantages when shopping for books?  Is selection an overriding factor in driving consumers to book sites, or is cost of shipping important as well?  Does overall appearance make a consumer choose one site over another? Future analysis and more detailed sales numbers will hopefully reveal the answers to these and other important issues affecting online book retailers.