Link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Barnes and Noble is a well-known bookstore and distribution company. Their products are not just limited to books, but also coffee, music, and games. Students purchasing textbooks and parents purchasing games or children’s books form the largest block of their customer base. Barnes and Noble also market their own e-reader called the NOOK and includes their online e-book store. With a diverse customer base, Barnes and Noble have done an excellent job in helping the customer understand their goals and what they sell.

When looking at their website, I was surprised at how bland the user interface looked. New customers are attracted to bright colors and engaging pictures. However, they offer a usable and clear interface on their website which demonstrates that Barnes and Noble care more for a practical rather than a creative philosophy.

I would incorporate a more radiant color scheme. Instead of the dark green logo background, substitute a light blue background with some yellow mixed in. Brighter colors have been scientifically proven to make people more attracted to objects. Another color I would encourage for their website is red. Red is an eye-catching color and it shows passion; it would represent how reading is a passion. Dark green is a good color for older consumers since it represents comfort. but if you want more products sold to younger audiences, it is best to go with red. The next point of improvement is the image links; they are all blocks. Which is an eye-catching visualization of their highest selling products, books. The images in these blocks are properly showing their products with pictures. The TOP 100 book choice list could use improvement. The list is just words on a gray background with no pictures. Consumers who shop at Amazon are used to having the photo of the book and often a few sample pages are included. To improve the list of recommended books is to change the grey to a blue or red background, have the font changed to a more fancier look, and beside each word the pictures of the book. With these improvements, it will make Barnes and Noble more customer-friendly website.