Organization	12 Months Ended
Apr. 27, 2024
Organization	Note 1. Organization Description of Business Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (“BNED”) is one of the largest contract operators of physical and virtual bookstores for college and university campuses and K-12 institutions across the United States. We are also one of the largest textbook wholesalers and inventory management hardware and software providers. We operate 1,245 physical, virtual, and custom bookstores and serve more than 5.8 million students, delivering essential educational content, tools and general merchandise within a dynamic omnichannel retail environment. The strengths of our business include our ability to compete by developing new products and solutions to meet market needs, our large operating footprint with direct access to students and faculty, our well-established, deep relationships with academic partners and stable, long-term contracts and our well-recognized brands. We provide product and service offerings designed to address the most pressing issues in higher education, including equitable access, enhanced convenience and improved affordability through innovative course material delivery models designed to drive improved student experiences and outcomes. We offer our BNC First Day® equitable and inclusive access programs, consisting of First Day Complete and First Day, which provide faculty required course materials on or before the first day of class. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines, which has been observed at those schools where such programs have been adopted, and improve predictability of our future results. See BNC First Day Equitable and Inclusive Access Programs discussion below. We expect to continue to introduce scalable and advanced solutions focused largely on the student and customer experience, expand our e-commerce capabilities and accelerate such capabilities through our service providers, Fanatics Retail Group Fulfillment, LLC (“Fanatics”) and Fanatics Lids College, Inc. D/B/A “Lids” (“Lids”) (collectively referred to herein as the “F/L Relationship”), win new accounts, and expand our revenue opportunities through strategic relationships. We expect gross comparable store general merchandise sales to increase over the long term, as our product assortments continue to emphasize and reflect changing consumer trends, and we evolve our presentation concepts and merchandising of products in stores and online, which we expect to be further enhanced and accelerated through the F/L Relationship. Fanatics and Lids, acting on our behalf as our service providers, provide unparalleled product assortment, e-commerce capabilities and powerful digital marketing tools to drive increased value for customers and accelerate growth of our logo general merchandise business. See Relationship with Fanatics and Lids discussion below. The Barnes & Noble brand (licensed from our former parent) along with our subsidiary brands, BNC and MBS, are synonymous with innovation in bookselling and campus retailing, and are widely recognized and respected brands in the United States. Our large college footprint, reputation, and credibility in the marketplace not only support our marketing efforts to universities, students, and faculty, but are also important to our relationship with leading publishers who rely on us as one of their primary distribution channels. BNC First Day Equitable and Inclusive Access Programs We provide product and service offerings designed to address the most pressing issues in higher education, including equitable access, enhanced convenience and improved affordability through innovative course material delivery models designed to drive improved student experiences and outcomes. We offer our BNC First Day® equitable and inclusive access programs, consisting of First Day Complete and First Day, which provide faculty required course materials on or before the first day of class. During the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024, BNC First Day total revenue increased by $127,211, or 37%, to $473,863 compared to $346,652 during the prior year period. •First Day Complete is adopted by an institution and includes all or the majority of undergraduate classes (and on occasion graduate classes), providing students both physical and digital materials. The First Day Complete model drives substantially greater unit sales and sell-through for the bookstore. In the Spring of 2024, 160 campus stores are utilizing First Day® Complete representing enrollment of nearly 805,000 undergraduate and post graduate students (as reported by National Center for Education Statistics as of October 26, 2023), an increase of approximately 39% compared to Spring of 2023. During the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024, First Day Complete sales increased by $94,948, or 48.0%, to $292,704 as compared to $197,756 in the prior year period. •First Day is adopted by a faculty member for a single course, and students receive primarily digital course materials through their school's learning management system ("LMS"). During the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024, First Day sales increased by $32,263, or 21.7%, to 181,159 as compared to $148,896 in the prior year period. Offering course materials through our equitable and inclusive access First Day Complete and First Day models is an important strategic initiative of ours to meet the market demands of substantially reduced pricing to students, as well as the opportunity to improve student outcomes, while, at the same time, increasing our market share, revenue and relative gross profits of course material sales given the higher volumes of units sold in such models as compared to historical sales models that rely on individual student marketing and sales. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines, which has been observed at those schools where such programs have been adopted, and improve predictability of our future results. In Fiscal 2024, the growth of our BNC First Day programs offset the declines in a la carte courseware sales and closed store sales. We are moving quickly to accelerate our First Day Complete strategy. Many institutions adopted First Day Complete in Fiscal 2024, and we plan to continue to scale the number of schools adopting First Day Complete in Fiscal 2025 and beyond. Relationship with Fanatics and Lids In December 2020, we entered into the F/L Relationship. Fanatics and Lids, acting on our behalf as our service providers, provide unparalleled product assortment, e-commerce capabilities and powerful digital marketing tools to drive increased value for customers and accelerate growth of our logo general merchandise business. Fanatics operates as our service provider, including processing consumer personal information on our behalf, using their cutting-edge e-commerce and technology expertise to offer our campus store websites expanded product selection, a world-class online and mobile experience, and a progressive direct-to-consumer platform. Coupled with Lids, the leading standalone brick and mortar retailer focused exclusively on licensed fan and alumni products, our campus stores have improved access to trend and sales performance data on licensees, product styles, and design treatments. We maintain our relationships with campus partners and remain responsible for staffing and managing the day-to-day operations of our campus bookstores. We also work closely with our campus partners to ensure that each campus store maintains unique aspects of in-store merchandising, including localized product assortments and specific styles and designs that reflect each campus’s brand. We leverage Fanatics’ e-commerce technology and expertise for the operational management of the emblematic merchandise and gift sections of our campus store websites. Lids manages in-store assortment planning and merchandising of emblematic apparel, headwear, and gift products for our partner campus stores, and Lids owns the inventory it manages, relieving us of the obligation to finance inventory purchases from working capital.

Organization

12 Months Ended

Apr. 27, 2024

Note 1. Organization

Description of Business

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (“BNED”) is one of the largest contract operators of physical and virtual bookstores for college and university campuses and K-12 institutions across the United States. We are also one of the largest textbook wholesalers and inventory management hardware and software providers. We operate 1,245 physical, virtual, and custom bookstores and serve more than 5.8 million students, delivering essential educational content, tools and general merchandise within a dynamic omnichannel retail environment.

The strengths of our business include our ability to compete by developing new products and solutions to meet market needs, our large operating footprint with direct access to students and faculty, our well-established, deep relationships with academic partners and stable, long-term contracts and our well-recognized brands. We provide product and service offerings designed to address the most pressing issues in higher education, including equitable access, enhanced convenience and improved affordability through innovative course material delivery models designed to drive improved student experiences and outcomes. We offer our BNC First Day® equitable and inclusive access programs, consisting of First Day Complete and First Day, which provide faculty required course materials on or before the first day of class. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines, which has been observed at those schools where such programs have been adopted, and improve predictability of our future results. See BNC First Day Equitable and Inclusive Access Programs discussion below.

We expect to continue to introduce scalable and advanced solutions focused largely on the student and customer experience, expand our e-commerce capabilities and accelerate such capabilities through our service providers, Fanatics Retail Group Fulfillment, LLC (“Fanatics”) and Fanatics Lids College, Inc. D/B/A “Lids” (“Lids”) (collectively referred to herein as the “F/L Relationship”), win new accounts, and expand our revenue opportunities through strategic relationships. We expect gross comparable store general merchandise sales to increase over the long term, as our product assortments continue to emphasize and reflect changing consumer trends, and we evolve our presentation concepts and merchandising of products in stores and online, which we expect to be further enhanced and accelerated through the F/L Relationship. Fanatics and Lids, acting on our behalf as our service providers, provide unparalleled product assortment, e-commerce capabilities and powerful digital marketing tools to drive increased value for customers and accelerate growth of our logo general merchandise business. See Relationship with Fanatics and Lids discussion below.

The Barnes & Noble brand (licensed from our former parent) along with our subsidiary brands, BNC and MBS, are synonymous with innovation in bookselling and campus retailing, and are widely recognized and respected brands in the United States. Our large college footprint, reputation, and credibility in the marketplace not only support our marketing efforts to universities, students, and faculty, but are also important to our relationship with leading publishers who rely on us as one of their primary distribution channels.

BNC First Day Equitable and Inclusive Access Programs

We provide product and service offerings designed to address the most pressing issues in higher education, including equitable access, enhanced convenience and improved affordability through innovative course material delivery models designed to drive improved student experiences and outcomes. We offer our BNC First Day® equitable and inclusive access programs, consisting of First Day Complete and First Day, which provide faculty required course materials on or before the first day of class. During the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024, BNC First Day total revenue increased by $127,211, or 37%, to $473,863 compared to $346,652 during the prior year period.

•First Day Complete is adopted by an institution and includes all or the majority of undergraduate classes (and on occasion graduate classes), providing students both physical and digital materials. The First Day Complete model drives substantially greater unit sales and sell-through for the bookstore. In the Spring of 2024, 160 campus stores are utilizing First Day® Complete representing enrollment of nearly 805,000 undergraduate and post graduate students (as reported by National Center for Education Statistics as of October 26, 2023), an increase of approximately 39% compared to Spring of 2023. During the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024, First Day Complete sales increased by $94,948, or 48.0%, to $292,704 as compared to $197,756 in the prior year period.

•First Day is adopted by a faculty member for a single course, and students receive primarily digital course materials through their school's learning management system ("LMS"). During the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024, First Day sales increased by $32,263, or 21.7%, to 181,159 as compared to $148,896 in the prior year period.

Offering course materials through our equitable and inclusive access First Day Complete and First Day models is an important strategic initiative of ours to meet the market demands of substantially reduced pricing to students, as well as the opportunity to improve student outcomes, while, at the same time, increasing our market share, revenue and relative gross profits of course material sales given the higher volumes of units sold in such models as compared to historical sales models that rely on individual student marketing and sales. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines, which has been observed at those schools where such programs have been adopted, and improve predictability of our future results. In Fiscal 2024, the growth of our BNC First Day programs offset the declines in a la carte courseware sales and closed store sales. We are moving quickly to accelerate our First Day Complete strategy. Many institutions adopted First Day Complete in Fiscal 2024, and we plan to continue to scale the number of schools adopting First Day Complete in Fiscal 2025 and beyond.

Relationship with Fanatics and Lids

In December 2020, we entered into the F/L Relationship. Fanatics and Lids, acting on our behalf as our service providers, provide unparalleled product assortment, e-commerce capabilities and powerful digital marketing tools to drive increased value for customers and accelerate growth of our logo general merchandise business. Fanatics operates as our service provider, including processing consumer personal information on our behalf, using their cutting-edge e-commerce and technology expertise to offer our campus store websites expanded product selection, a world-class online and mobile experience, and a progressive direct-to-consumer platform. Coupled with Lids, the leading standalone brick and mortar retailer focused exclusively on licensed fan and alumni products, our campus stores have improved access to trend and sales performance data on licensees, product styles, and design treatments.

We maintain our relationships with campus partners and remain responsible for staffing and managing the day-to-day operations of our campus bookstores. We also work closely with our campus partners to ensure that each campus store maintains unique aspects of in-store merchandising, including localized product assortments and specific styles and designs that reflect each campus’s brand. We leverage Fanatics’ e-commerce technology and expertise for the operational management of the emblematic merchandise and gift sections of our campus store websites. Lids manages in-store assortment planning and merchandising of emblematic apparel, headwear, and gift products for our partner campus stores, and Lids owns the inventory it manages, relieving us of the obligation to finance inventory purchases from working capital.