Barnes and Noble is the best place to find every book you can imagine.
I was intrigued to see what this Barnes and Noble Marketplace looked like. Is it still available? Is it still in business? If so, how do they work?
This is what we discovered after a thorough investigation.
What is Barnes & Noble Marketplace?
Barnes & Noble Booksellers, an American retail chain, has over 600 stores in the United States. They also have a large online bookstore and once had a “network” of trusted sellers called the Barnes & Noble Marketplace. However, this is no longer the case.
This article will take a look at Barnes & Noble Marketplace, including its history, operation, and future plans.
What was The Barnes & Noble Marketplace?
The B&N Marketplace was Barnes & Noble’s ecommerce platform. It worked in a similar way to Amazon and Ebay: buyers could shop, and sellers could list and even sell. It allowed buyers to upload items to digital carts, then pay and check out.
The Barnes & Noble Marketplace featured millions of used and new items, often at a discount price. B&N provided the company with their guarantee and signature and made a profit through the sales transaction fees.
Sellers could be either professionals with many items or a single person selling a small number of items. Barnes & Noble monitored the performance of sellers but did not have any possession or take them into their hands.
The seller was responsible for packing and shipping the items sold and setting shipping fees. Site included a secure payment system as well as a resolution center.
What happened to Barnes & Noble Marketplace
Barnes & Noble announced in 2020 that it was closing its Marketplace program. This was the program that allowed third party merchants to sell on the ecommerce platform.
It was a shock for the buyers, sellers, and vendors who had used the site. Experts in the field felt that there would be significant changes in Barnes & Noble’s business when James Daunt, a U.K. bookeller, took over as CEO in August 2019.
In 2020, participants sellers received the following statement:
After carefully reviewing all aspects of our eCommerce business we have come to regretfully the decision to end our Marketplace program.
The closing day of the Barnes & Noble Marketplace was Thursday March 26th 2020.
Sellers were given another 30 days to respond to customer complaints and returns.
Barnes & Noble assured sellers that they will remember them in the event of future projects that require marketplace support.
It is not clear if this means Barnes & Noble will open another similar Marketplace.
Is the Barnes & Noble Marketplace a good platform for selling things?
The feedback received from clients regarding the closure of B&N Marketplace was mixed. Many sellers felt disappointed by the site’s ease-of-use and potential profitability.
Others felt that B&N Marketplace had “fallen behind” the times and required “serious work to its interface” as well as “fine tuning the navigation console”. The seller pointed out that Amazon and Ebay were more developed and are used by far more people than B&N Marketplace.
Others mentioned AMZ, Alibaba as global sellers sites that were too large for Barnes & Noble.
Although most sellers were dissatisfied with the brief notice regarding closing, some sellers reported that it was expected.
What other changes were made for Barnes & Noble’s?
James Daunt, who made several changes within the company, refined and simplified it, returning it to its core bookselling principles.
The Marketplace was closed, as well as a number brick & mortar outlets. Corporate office positions were also eliminated.
He said that store management would be handed back to the individual store managers and that people should love books and understand local markets, and see their role as being important for their community.
This means that every store can fill their shelves themselves, rather than having them done centrally. This means that they can interact directly with the local communities and take note of what readers are interested in, then stock the store accordingly.
Daunt hoped this vibrant, personal experience in-store would be comparable to Amazon’s “personless book buying experience” and encourage more customers to “go for it instead”.
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- Why is Barnes & Noble so expensive?
- rWhen Does Barnes & Noble Restock Their Stock?
Summary
The Barnes & Noble Marketplace was an online marketplace that allowed buyers and sellers to interact and complete transactions.
Despite the fact that many ecommerce platforms experienced more business during the Covid pandemic than ever before, Barnes & Noble decided it was time to shut down its virtual Marketplace.
Instead, they have focused on revitalizing street shops and streamlining their book sales website. Barnes & Noble hopes that both forms of purchase will be enjoyable and satisfying for their customers.
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