Barnes & Noble announced last week its one-week deal ,which offers a free Nook Simple Touch reader with every Nook HD+ Tablet purchased.

It is no secret that Barnes & Noble has not been doing too well recently. It has been struggling to survive in the competitive markets ,and has also revealed its plans to close 20 stores a year over the next decade, its chief executive told The Wall Street Journal.

Now, in another attempt to keep sales going, the company announced that from Sunday, March 24, 2013, it will implement an attractive offer where, with every purchase of Nook HD+ Tablet, one Nook Simple Touch reader will be given for free. This new offer is valid for one week only, and is available at Barnes & Noble's retail stores and online, as well as at retail partners.

Earlier last month, the bookseller reported a 10.9 percent decline in revenues in its retail segment over the nine-week 2012 holiday season versus the prior year. Much of that decline, 8.2 percent, came from sales in stores open less than a year, store closures and lower online sales.

Barnes & Noble's new deal is a bid to not only generate greater interest in the Nook tablet, which has struggled to compete with Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) Kindle Fire and Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPad, but also help bolster digital-content sales, which jumped 13 percent for Barnes & Noble's last quarter and was one of the few bright spots in that report.

The e-book reader was launched in 2009 when the digitalization of books was just growing in popularity and companies were trying hard to attract more customers. While Barnes & Noble also offers a tablet for the Nook, sales of the devices have skidded of late, as the company struggles to keep up with larger tech-focused firms that have more money to spend on design and marketing.