New York, May 28, 2002 - Barnes & Noble.com (Nasdaq: BNBN) (www.bn.com) today announced the introduction of BookBrowser, a groundbreaking new browsing engine that allows customers to easily explore and discover books in more than 400,000 categories. Barnes & Noble.com engaged the software firm Endeca to incorporate Endeca InFront Guided Navigation solutions to power BookBrowser.
Innovative and easy to use, BookBrowser allows customers to explore the world of books using a host of criteria -- subject, author, format, price range, award-winners, recommended books, bestsellers and more. BookBrowser also enables customers to select and combine categories that best match their interests and quickly arrive at a list of very specific and relevant books.
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"Our customers have told us that they want to browse online with the ease that they already enjoy in our stores. BookBrowser meets those needs," said Marie J. Toulantis, CEO of Barnes & Noble.com. "For the first time, book buyers everywhere have a simple yet powerful tool at their disposal to shop in a bookstore with millions of titles. The introduction of this unique book shopping feature, coupled with the largest in-stock selection and our free shipping offer, make Barnes & Noble.com the destination of choice for book lovers everywhere."
Barnes & Noble.com’s BookBrowser not only recreates the traditional bookstore browsing experience -- it enhances it. The same title can be "shelved" in multiple categories. For instance, Jack Welch’s Jack, would be found browsing either Business or Biography and even Engineering.
"The power and ease of use of BookBrowser is unprecedented," said Daniel Blackman, vice president, Books, Music, & Video for Barnes & Noble.com. "With BookBrowser, our customers can now browse with a level of detail that was impossible before. The outcome is customer-driven personalization where our shoppers decide on the best way to navigate our bookstore."
This level of detail is made possible by Barnes & Noble.com’s proprietary categorization initiative, which provides the organizational foundation for its multi-million-title book database. The challenge of dynamically navigating and sorting this unique category structure was met by Endeca, a Boston-based technology company.
"Endeca’s InFront Guided Navigation delivers superior search and merchandising capabilities," said Steve Papa, founder and CEO of Endeca. "Barnes & Noble.com's large product catalog takes advantage of this easy-to-use shopping tool that provides consumers with the purchase options they are looking for."
Designed with booklovers in mind, Barnes & Noble.com’s BookBrowser offers shoppers everywhere the most powerful way to explore the world of books.
About Barnes & Noble.com
Barnes & Noble.com is a leading online retailer of books, music, DVD/video and magazine subscriptions. Since opening its online store (www.bn.com) in March 1997, Barnes & Noble.com has attracted more than 12 million customers in 228 countries. Barnes & Noble.com’s online bookstore includes the largest in-stock selection of in-print book titles with access to 1 million titles for immediate delivery, supplemented by more than 20 million listings from its nationwide network of out-of-print, rare and used book dealers. Barnes & Noble.com offers its customers fast delivery, easy and secure ordering and rich editorial content.
About Endeca
Endeca offers innovative Guided Navigation information delivery solutions for companies who need to integrate, discover, and navigate enterprise data to solve the business problems associated with information overload. Endeca technology is already at work for leading financial services companies like Putnam Investments and Fidelity Investments, and is powering TowerRecords.com and IHS Engineering, the leading worldwide provider of technical standards, specifications, logistics and parts information. Endeca is a privately held company headquartered in Cambridge, MA and is backed by leading venture capital firms including Ampersand Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Venrock Associates. For more information, please visit www.endeca.com or email us at info@endeca.com.