This one was also probably already posted, and if so, I apologize, but better safe than sorry in the dissemination of relevant info.
Book sites chase each
other
By Beth Lipton
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
July 15, 1998, 4:00 a.m. PT
The online book battle is beginning to look like the
portal wars, with players constantly trying to one-up
each other.
Barnes & Noble today made a Net push with its
launch of a
business-to-business
e-commerce program
dubbed Business Solutions,
designed to gain users and
revenue by appealing to
customers via corporate
intranets.
Its bookselling contender,
Borders Books and Music,
will host its first live online
chat tonight in the form of
a panel discussion featuring Michele Mitchell, author
of A New Kind of Party Animal, a new book about
young people's involvement in politics.
Both firms are trying to edge up in the growing
competition in the Net bookselling space that
consistently has been dominated by Amazon.com.
Amazon, whose stock has skyrocketed of late,
launched a music site last month.
Under Barnes & Noble's new program, users can
purchase books and periodicals through Business
Solutions, and companies can recommend specific
titles on their corporate intranets that employees can
then buy with a click of a mouse, the firm said.
Business-to-business e-commerce is seen as having
tremendous growth potential. Market researcher
International Data Corporation is forecasting that the
market will grow to $177 billion by 2001, and
Forrester Research predicts it will reach $327 billion
by 2002.
Right now, the business-to-business e-commerce
market is mostly made up of manufacturers and
distributors of computer supplies, scientific
equipment, office and industrial supplies,
replacement parts, and electronics.
"Time is arguably the most important commodity in
corporate America," Michael Donahue, director of
Business Solutions, said in a statement. "That's why
Lucent Technologies, Arthur Andersen, and others
already have become BarnesandNoble.com
Business Solutions clients."
Borders has hosted chats--powered by Talk City--to
foster community, a catchphrase that is big among
sites looking to increase traffic. The chat tonight,
scheduled for 7 p.m. PT, is the first time the site is
holding a scheduled event with featured speakers,
according to a Borders spokeswoman. She noted
that the site plans to host similar events in the future.
news.com |
