barnes & noble research report

The Einstein Agency

Final Research Report on Barnes & Noble

______________________

Kyle McCarthy, Lauren Muldoon, Taylor O’Neil, Emily Renne, Leah Sachs

Fall 2014

The Einstein Agency: Barnes & Noble 2

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………….……….……….……….……….……….…………………3

Background and Secondary Research (SWOT Analysis) ……….……….……….……………....3

Methods……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……………...5

Focus Group……….…….……….……….……….……….……….…..............................5

Participant Observations……….……….……….……….……….……….………………6

In-depth Interviews……….……….……….……….……….……….……………………9

Survey……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………………13

Results……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……………...14

Focus Group……….……….……….……….……….……….……….…………………14

Participant Observations……….……….……….……….……….……….………..……15

In-depth Interviews……….……….……….……….……….……….…………………..16

Survey……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………………18

Discussion and Recommendations……….……….……….……….……….……….…………..19

Conclusion……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………………….26


Introduction

Founded in 1917, Barnes & Noble has focused on giving people quality products and

experiences for almost 100 years. With over 650 stores (and the 700 college campus bookstores

the business also controls) and 250,000 employees, it’s no wonder that Barnes & Noble has

continued to be a strong and successful business. As a Fortune 500 company, the bookstore chain

is part of several different industries: Bookstores, Clothing & Accessories, Mail-Order (non-store

retail), and Office Supplies/Stationery Stores. The company’s primary industry, the Bookstore

industry, is in decline. After a series of mergers and bankruptcies in the American bookstore

industry since the 1990s, this overall market deflation can be attributed to the recent recession, as

well as a strong emergence of online-book vendors and eBook products. However through

fluctuations and watching as competitors closed their doors, Barnes & Noble stands tall as

America's last remaining national bookstore chain.

Background and Secondary Research

In order to better understand our client, we researched Barnes & Noble’s strengths and

weaknesses, as well as any opportunities and threats to the company and its market. The

strengths of Barnes & Noble start by the business being the largest bookstore chain in the United

States. In addition, we discovered that Barnes & Noble has a strong web presence through their

website barnesandnoble.com. Our client also has complementary distribution channels as a way

of reaching the maximum amount of customers. Barnes & Noble’s Nook tablet competes directly

with other tablets on the market (such as the iPad or Amazon Fire) at a reasonable price. Plus, the

sale of Nook products is executed through other retailers as a way of boosting sales.

Some of our client’s weaknesses include the significant and continued investment in its

digital business, which ultimately drains Barnes & Noble’s overall budget. To add, most of our


client’s rivals have a larger budget in terms of their digital business, as well as fewer

competitors. There are significant costs associated with maintaining physical store locations,

which can be difficult financially for our client. Another weakness for Barnes & Noble would be

the potentially lower profit margins coming from its sales of digital content versus traditional

print and A/V materials. Pressures associated with returning to profitability may affect future

business decisions regarding continued expansion and lines of business.

But because Barnes & Noble is continuously evolving, there are many opportunities that

can be pursued. For example, the Nook HD and HD+ launched this past November – this creates

another opportunity to develop a spin-off of Nook Media L.L.C.. There are increasing demands

for digital content, which could also be an opportunity for our client. Another opportunity is the

possibility of increased international presence through Nook Media L.L.C.. Next, a possible

opportunity is the partnership Barnes & Noble has with Microsoft, since both companies are

internationally known and have strong presences in their industries. Another major opportunity

that can be used to Barnes & Noble’s benefit is the continuing decline of other chain and

independent booksellers in the United States. There are more growth opportunities for Barnes &

Noble College, as colleges and universities continue to outsource their bookstore operations. And

finally, our client can begin promoting their retail locations as community gathering spaces.

Through our research, we also found that there are many threats that our client is faced

with. For instance, they cannot operate indefinitely at a loss. The continued rise in purchases of

e-content and the rapidly changing digital content technology may threaten long-term viability of

Barnes & Noble’s traditional retail stores. Another possible threat is heavy price discounting by

our client’s competitors. There is an increasing number of providers of e-content, which is a

major threat to our client. Moreover, there is an increasing number of eReaders and tablets,


which is a huge threat to Barnes & Noble and their Nook tablet. More and more offerings of e-

content by libraries is a threat our client is also facing. Suspension of dividend payments may

also discourage investment in common shares, which is a major threat to Barnes & Noble.

Lastly, their partnership with Microsoft and Preferred Stock arrangement with Liberty Media

may lessen our company's direct control over its operations.

Through our primary research, we wanted to find out information about our target market

(pertaining to how they purchase books) and their experiences related to buying books, their

reading habits, the brand awareness of Barnes & Noble, and what potential customers would

want to see changed at Barnes & Noble that would attract them to the stores.

Methods Focus Group

Our focus group took place on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 at 11:30 am in Park 270, and

lasted for approximately 20 minutes. The physical environment could be described as moderately

loud, due to other focus groups taking place in the same room. The room was mild in

temperature, with a laid back atmosphere and the participants sitting in desks circled around the

moderator. Munchkin donut holes from Dunkin Donuts were provided for the participants. There

was one moderator, three observers, one recorder, and 6 participants. We recorded our focus

group using both an iPhone as well as a recording device provided for us. Our discussion was

broken down into four parts: warm-up, introductory questions, objective questions, and end of

group discussion.

Before we started our discussion, we went over our focus group guidelines; these

guidelines let the participants know that the moderator was independent of the discussion, that

the discussion was being recorded, that no one should dominate the discussion, and that the


participants should let us know if they needed to be excused for any reason. To get people

acquainted with one another, we used a simple icebreaker asking everyone to state their name,

class standing, and major. Once we began the true focus group, the purpose of our introductory

questions was to find general information about how our participants bought books, what their

reading habits were, and their inclination to buy locally as opposed to a chain. After this set of

questions, we asked the members of our focus group questions that were related to our client,

Barnes & Noble. This set of questions included information about their previous experience(s) at

Barnes & Noble, how often they frequent the store, and other related questions on how our client

could attract these people in the future. Once we were done with these questions, we had a final

discussion asking participants to share any additional issues or comments they had. We lastly

thanked them for participating in our focus group.

Limitations for the focus group were that there was a time constraint, the classroom was

noisy, there was only a small sample size of people in the focus group, and the focus group was

only made up of kids that were in our Research and Statistics classroom, which means that we

did not have a variation in age or demographics for the people who participated in our focus

group.

Participant Observations

For our participant observations, we split our team into two groups. One group went to

Buffalo Street Bookstore (located on Buffalo St. in Ithaca, NY) to do their observations while

the other group went to Barnes & Noble Bookstore (located at the Tops Plaza on 614 South

Meadow Street in Ithaca, NY) to do their own set of observations.


For the group that went to Buffalo Street Bookstore, Emily used a pen and paper while

Leah used a tablet to take notes on. The Buffalo Street Bookstore observations were done on

Saturday, October 11th, 2014 at 1:30pm. Both group members walked around the entire

bookstore for one hour and observed customers until 2:30pm. During this participant

observation, the group members did not speak to any of the customers. Leah and Emily also

made a point to avoid eye contact with customers so that they did not notice them writing down

observations, and moreover, skew their behavior. Both Leah and Emily took notes throughout

the entire bookstore. Emily set down her pen and paper in five separate viewing spots during the

time she was there. Leah set down her tablet in the same five locations Emily did to take notes.

The first viewing spot (viewing spot A) was on the ground in the front/middle area of the store.

The second viewing spot (viewing spot B) was in the back of the bookstore next to the chairs.

The third viewing spot (viewing spot C) was in the middle of the store standing next to the

bookshelf facing the back of the store. The fourth viewing spot (viewing spot D) was in the back

of the bookstore and both members were sitting down facing the room with the chairs. The fifth

viewing spot (viewing spot E) was at the same bookshelf the members were at when they

observed from viewing spot C. The difference was that Leah’s tablet and Emily’s notebook and

pen were positioned to face the front of the store instead of the back. The limitations for these

participant observations were that both group members did their observations at the exact date

and time as each other, so if they went at different times, the results could have varied a bit more.

Lastly, the group members only went to Buffalo Street Bookstore for an hour, so if they had been

able to observe for longer, the results may have been more substantial.

The other group conducted their participant observations at Barnes & Noble Bookstore

on the Friday afternoon of October 10, 2014 at 12 pm. Kyle and Taylor conducted their


observations for exactly one hour until 1pm. The group members entered the store looking like

students with their backpacks and started their observations in the Starbucks area of Barnes &

Noble. To blend in, they sat at a table with their computers out, pretending to do school work

while drinking pumpkin spice lattes. They started at this location within the store because the

majority of the customers in the store were sitting around at tables in Starbucks talking with

friends, reading, or working on their laptops. The group members observed at this location for

approximately twenty minutes. Next, they put away their laptops and walked around the store

taking notes on their phones for the approximately forty minutes. They did this so they could

observe how the customers roamed around the store and to see what types of topics interested

them. Taking notes on their phones was helpful because it allowed them to explore different

sections of the store, and to be inconspicuous. Kyle and Taylor remained fairly close to each

other while conducting the research, but did not focus on the same human interactions as one

another. At a few minutes past 1pm, the group members concluded their observations and left the

store. Limitations for these participant observations were that the group members observed the

Barnes & Noble at the same time and date, so if they had gone at separate times the results could

also have varied a bit more. Additionally, the group members only observed Barnes & Noble for

an hour, so if they had gone for longer, their results may have been different.

One group member, Lauren, did not get a chance to conduct a participant observation,

and therefore, a significant limitation was that the group was not able to get more results to

gather information from. If she had observed a different bookstore, for example, our results may

have been more substantial.


In-depth Interviews

Each group member conducted two separate interviews, which made up a total of ten

interviews. Each interview was roughly twenty minutes long.

Taylor conducted two interviews on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 between 11:00-11:30am.

The location was inside room 270 of the Roy H. Park School of Communication. The

interviewer (Taylor) and the interviewee sat at two separate student desks that were facing each

other in a classroom with about twenty other students. Each interview conducted was about

fifteen minutes in duration, and was recorded on an iPhone (to be typed into a transcript for

future reference). First, the interviewer asked permission to record the interview and also asked if

the participants had any questions or concerns before the interview started.

The interview protocol was based on previous research conducted about Barnes & Noble

with the focus group and participant observation. Taylor conducted the interview to gain a

deeper understanding of the topics that were mentioned in the focus group and what she

observed from her participant observation. She started off each of the interviews with her

protocol and proceeded with a general question about their past experiences at Barnes & Noble.

Next, Taylor touched on points that were brought up in the focus group such as online book

buying, and holding events at Barnes & Noble stores. Finally, she concluded the interviews by

asking about any recommendations the interviewees could suggest, and closed the interviews by

thanking each participant, reassuring confidentiality, and asking permission for a future follow

up. Limitations for Taylor’s interviews were that the room was noisy in which the interviews

were conducted in. Additionally, the two students she interviewed were in her class, and

therefore, were not randomly selected. She was only able to gain insight from people of the same


age group and field of study, which could have hindered the results as well. Lastly, there was a

time constraint for her interviews, which could have affected her results.

Kyle conducted his interviews on October 7th, 2014 in room 270 of the Roy H. Park

School of Communications. The physical environment was described as moderately loud

because there were many other interviews going on at the same time. To record his interviews,

Kyle used his iPhone that was set on the desk between the interviewee and himself. Kyle based

his interview protocol on the example format from class, and changed it to fit the group’s

research topic and goals. His six goals for his interviews were the following: 1) Gain insight on

how students buy books, 2) get feedback on students’ reading habits, 3) learn what could attract

more people to a Barnes & Noble store/website, 4) find out students’ preferences on eBooks

versus hard copy books, 5) learn how often students buy books for both in and out of class, and

6) learn about students’ past experiences with Barnes & Noble, both good and bad. Kyle asked

his questions beginning from general to specific. He concluded by thanking each participant and

asking permission for a future follow up. Limitations for Kyle were that the room in which the

interviews were conducted was noisy, and the people in which he interviewed were also the same

age as him and had the same field of study, which could have affected his results. Additionally,

there was a time constraint for his interviews, which also may have affected his results.

Before Lauren conducted her in-depth interviews, she designed an interview protocol to

help the interview stay focused on her objectives. Her questions were pre-planned, however not

rigid in the sense that the interview seemed forced. The protocol form stated the time, date, and

location of the interview, the purpose of the interview, and the questions that would guide the

interview. Both of her interviews were conducted on the Ithaca College campus. Although

conducted on different days, the two interviews were both held in the IC Library on the second


floor. Both interviews were conducted mid-afternoon, so the library was not overly crowded or

loud. The conversations took place around a table, with the interviewer and the interviewee

sitting across from one another. The interviewer recorded both interviews on her iPhone, and

typed brief notes while the interviewee spoke. After Lauren finished asking all of her questions,

she concluded by thanking the participants and asking for their permission to do a follow up in

the future. Limitations for this in-depth interview were that the participants were both Lauren’s

friends and, therefore, the results could have been biased. Additionally, both the participants

were her age, so that could have also affected the results.

Emily’s first interview took place outside of our classroom (Park 270) at a bench across

the hall. The second interview took place down the hall from the first location – at the tables and

chairs across from the Park Cart (Park Lobby). The date the interviews took place was October 7,

2014, and each lasted for about 15 minutes. During both interviews, there was some background

noise because they were conducted during a class hour. The temperature was a normal,

comfortable room temperature, and the atmosphere was relaxed and casual. The first interview

was recorded using the AudioNote app on her iPhone and was recorded in three separate blocks

that were about five minutes each. The second interview was recorded using the Voice Recorder

app on her iPhone, and was recorded in one block with the interviewee holding the phone to her

mouth. The interviews began with open, general questions, and continuously narrowed down the

conversation to elaborate more on certain topics. Emily designed her protocol according to her

guiding proposal for this research assignment, which was to better understand how people view

Barnes & Noble and how they shop for books. Questions for the interviews were created through

her evaluation of repetitive patterns and interesting consumer thoughts that she gathered in

feedback from former studies. She also asked the interviewees about their own ideas as to what


the company could do differently within their local communities, and what the company may be

doing wrong currently. These questions deviated a bit from her main objectives, but served the

purpose of the team’s overall research goal. When she finished her interviews, she thanked the

participants and asked them for permission to do a follow up in the future. Limitations for this

study were that it was noisy and the participants were both in Emily’s class, so they were in her

same field of study and age group, which may have affected the results for the interview. Lastly,

there was a time constraint for her interviews, which may have affected Emily’s final results.

Leah’s procedure for conducting the interviews were to ask two different participants

questions related to bookstores, and then more specifically ask questions about Barnes & Noble.

She chose two people that she knew as participants to interview because they were the only

people she could find that were willing to be interviewed when she was conducting the research.

One of the participants who was willing to be interviewed was Emily Melucci. She is a 20-year-

old female majoring in speech pathology at Ithaca College. The other participant was Leah’s

roommate, Gus Gonzalez. He is a 20-year-old male studying hospitality at Tompkins County

Community College. She conducted Gus’s interview on October 8, 2014 at 7:30pm, and the

conversation lasted for 20 minutes. Emily’s interview was conducted on October 9, 2014 at

7:30pm and also lasted for 20 minutes. Both interviews were conducted in Leah’s bedroom,

which was located at 118 Ferris Place in Ithaca, New York. The participants sat across from her

on her bed while she asked them questions — Leah thought it was a relaxed environment, which

could make it more comfortable for the participants to share how they felt. Leah constructed her

interview protocol based off of what she learned in class. She created a script for before and after

the interview, which clearly stated who Leah was and what she was conducting research on. She

wrote her questions for her interviews based on the research goals and objectives. Leah tried to


make the questions very clear and to the point so that the interview was effective. The interview

procedure started by Leah telling each of the participants that she was conducting research with a

group of students at Ithaca College who wanted like to learn more about students’ opinions on

Barnes & Noble Bookstores. Leah then told each participant that they could stop the interview at

any point if they felt uncomfortable, and that everything that was said would be in strict

confidence. Leah asked each participant if he or she had any questions before they began, and

additionally, explained that there were no “right” or “wrong” answers. Next, she asked each

participant the same set of twelve questions with probes to help guide the interview. Leah

recorded each participant during each interview by using the application titled “Voice Recorder”

on her Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone. Leah recorded the interview so that she could go back to

it and further gain insight on things she might have missed while taking her notes. After all the

questions were asked, Leah thanked each participant for being a part of the research, and

concluded the interview. Limitations for her interviews were that both participants were Leah’s

friends, so the results could have been biased. Additionally, the participants were the same age as

her, which also could have affected the results.

Survey

Our group used Google Forms to create our primary research survey questions. Once the

questions were created, the group sent the link to Professor Lisa Barnard, who then sent the

survey to a second Research and Statistics class. The group then waited for participants, and all

results that came from the survey responses were put into the SPSS system, which was

introduced to us in class by Prof. Barnard. Our class went into the computer lab on Nov. 18,

2014 to test our group’s three hypotheses. Our team used a two-tailed test to find our


correlations, and also conducted statistical tests using the SPSS system. Our group followed step-

by-step guidelines that were given in a PDF file provided by Prof. Barnard. The SPSS system

calculated several equations, which in turn gave us our results. Limitations for this survey

research assignment were that only 24 people from the other class period took it, all of the people

who took the survey were students of the Roy H. Park School of Communications, and were also

around the same age, which could have affected the final results for the survey. To add, not every

person who took our survey answered every question, which resulted in our final data

calculations being invalid. Because we had such a small sample size of survey takers, the fact

that not everyone answered all the provided questions seriously hindered our results. Finally,

there was a deadline for when the surveys had to be completed, so if there was more time for

students to take the surveys, our results may have been more substantial.

Results Focus Group

After conducting our Focus Group, we came to a general conclusion that the respondents

typically placed price and convenience as top priorities when purchasing books. We did have to

take into account that our group was composed of primarily college students, which most likely

contributed to the group’s priorities. When buying books – other than textbooks – respondents

reported that they did not have a preference of where to shop, as long as it was convenient and

inexpensive. No one had anything bad to say about Barnes & Noble, but there were many

suggestions as to what the company could do better and what they were doing wrong. Students

couldn’t recall much marketing or advertising done by the company, and thought Barnes &

Noble could do more to increase their presence, especially to the college student market. A few

students talked about how their local Barnes & Noble hosted events for their communities and


schools, which in turn caused the community to frequent the store more often. Many participants

also expressed how they wish the stores hadn’t eliminated the music/CD sections, and would like

to see these back.

We found that the participants’ experiences at Barnes & Nobles also differed by location.

Some were very impressed by their experiences in certain locations, while others found it to be

just a “typical bookstore”. Many students agreed that walking into a Barnes & Noble bookstore

put them in a sort of “magical” and welcoming environment, and described them to be

maintained well and comfortable. The experience of the bookstore, rather than the actual

product, was what drew them to the store most. Participants also emphasized how they have little

time to read books for just the pleasure of it. One student said, “Netflix is convenient, I can

watch it while I’m doing my laundry.” Students also said how they typically only read during

breaks or holidays. There are some things that no amount of marketing will ever be able to

change, such as human interest and the desire for convenient and cheap products. Despite all this,

we learned what drives consumers to Barnes & Noble, what they particularly like about the store,

and what the company can do better.

Participant Observations

We discovered several commonalities in assessing each of our Participant Observations.

First was how different age groups of shoppers shopped. Typically, independent shoppers were

of a younger demographic, and didn’t spend much time browsing the shelves. They purchased

what they needed and left. Elder shoppers took more time looking at various products and came

in groups. Emily’s observation noted elderly women who would shop independently met-up with

others to discuss their findings, and would make conversation with the cashier during their

purchase. Middle-aged shoppers were typically with their families when they came in, and used


the bookstore shopping experience as more of a bonding activity. In both Emily and Leah’s

observations at Buffalo Street books, there were families who would sit in the children’s section

and read together. People were generally quiet when travelling through the store. Deviations to

this were an older couple and an elderly man Leah and Emily observed at Buffalo Street. They

assumed this was just due to the personality of the customer; some people are more likely to

make conversation in these settings than others.

Taylor and Kyle conducted their Participant Observation at Ithaca’s Barnes & Noble, and

found the same commonalities observed by Leah and Emily at Buffalo Street Books. However,

here they noticed that the cashiers were even less involved with the shoppers, as most shoppers

did not seek any sort of guidance in purchasing books and preferred to be left alone. We think

this is due to the larger size of Barnes & Noble (since it is a chain of stores), rather than a local

store where the employees may be more invested with the company. They also observed how

Barnes & Noble is more conducive to reading, relaxing, and doing work than the local store

where Emily and Leah observed. In Barnes & Noble, people were drinking coffee, doing work,

and chatting with each other in the café section. They also noticed the age group here was

broader, but mainly the observed customers seemed to be over the age of 40. After evaluating the

data we found from our Participant Observations, we later created a survey, which also provided

us with valuable results that led to our final recommendations. Our results of the survey are

discussed within the following pages.

In-Depth Interviews

In evaluating our individual findings from each in-depth interview we conducted, we

stumbled across common themes heard from each interviewee. Due to the fact that our


participants were all college students, each reported that they price and convenience were the

two most important factors they considered when buying books. One participant explicitly said,

“price would be a huge factor” when asked what could influence them to go to either a Barnes &

Noble or another store. Most interviewees stated that they turned to online outlets such as

Amazon and eBay to purchase books. While Amazon was taken into account as a primary

competitor during our initial research, eBay was not – we did, however, realize that both offer

very similar services once eBay was mentioned. Taylor actually found a deviation from this, as

one of her interviewees reported that she preferred to buy local to support the community. This

value overtopped her concern for price, which was unique to our findings across all research

methods.

When looking for a physical bookstore, all respondents reported that Barnes & Noble

would be their first choice, with the exception of Taylor’s interviewee who preferred to buy

local. They all expressed great fondness for the children’s section of the store, and reflected on

memories of this section. One respondent stated that her first experience at Barnes & Noble goes

all the way back to when she was a child, and her mother would bring her to reading groups

often. Respondents had positive things to say about the ambiance of the store, and described it as

a relaxed, quiet, clean, and overall enjoyable. Interviewees raved about the Starbucks and how it

has been an important addition to the stores. Kyle found a deviation from one of his interviews,

where a respondent reported that Barnes & Noble sometimes lost its cozy touch in locations that

were especially large and more people frequented. One respondent in Emily’s interview also

expressed negative feelings towards the removal of the media sections in certain locations. The

following was taken directly from Emily’s transcript:


“ …senior year of high school, I was a huge One Direction fan and I was crazy about

getting a physical copy of a CD, so I called the local Barnes & Noble up on the day it was

released and actually went to the store to make sure I could get a physical copy of the CD

on the day it was released. Yeah, if I wanted to get a physical copy of a CD, I guess I

don’t know where else I’d get it.”

Minus the few deviations that expressed some negativity towards Barnes & Noble, the in-depth

interviews provided us with valuable results.

Survey

After collectively evaluating our findings from our previous primary research methods,

we constructed a survey that would lead us to our final recommendations for Barnes &

Noble. According to the non-demographic and non-statistical results from the survey, we found

that students most value inexpensive prices and convenient purchases when looking for books,

and that the quality of the book plays a very small role in their purchase decisions. We elaborated

on this concept when we asked the respondents about what type of sales were most likely to

bring them into the store, if any. The highest volume of responses relayed that back-to-school

discounts were most likely to bring students into the store.

Unfortunately, the first two hypotheses we tested offered little significance. Our third

hypothesis showed us a positive correlation between respondents who most valued convenience

when purchasing books, and respondents who would be more likely to visit a Barnes & Noble if

the store offered sales. The correlation was somewhat strong, and the significance factor was the

highest our data revealed. Although our group feels that the data from our survey did not offer

enough substantial evidence, the slight positive correlation and significance suggests our third

hypothesis is correct, especially since we were able to draw this conclusion from our non-


statistical findings. More people would be likely to go to Barnes & Noble if the store offered

more sales or discounts, since potential customers appreciate convenience and low prices. The

compiled information gave us ideas for what we can build off of when creating recommendations

for the company.

Discussion and Recommendations

With all the research we conducted this semester, we discovered some great insights and

improvements for Barnes & Noble to consider implementing into their stores and business. With

the help of our focus groups, participant observations, in-depth interviews, and surveys we came

up with 5 tactics we believe will boost Barnes & Noble’s sales and help to raise awareness.

These 5 tactics are more directed advertising, increasing promotions and discounts, targeting

millennials, considering college campus takeovers, and developing a textbook rental program.

With these 5 tactics, The Einstein Agency sees a new future for Barnes & Noble.

Direct Advertising

The first tactic is to implement more direct advertising. We believe this is a key

opportunity for our client because we found many people are unaware of what is going on in the

stores and even where the nearest store is to them. In an in-depth interview a junior standing

student participant did not know that there was a Barnes & Noble in Ithaca. Due to such a low

brand awareness for Barnes & Noble in Ithaca, people were not aware that the store even existed

in Ithaca, which concerned the Einstein Agency because we knew our participants did not plan

on shopping there either. Not only did people not know much about Barnes & Noble, many have

false information about the stores. Additionally, consumers in both the focus group and

interviews relayed upset attitudes towards the removal of the media sections, although this was


not the case in all Barnes & Noble stores. Many of the stores, including Ithaca, still have very

large and well-stocked media sections filled with CDs, DVDs, and etc. We also found that most

participants thought of Barnes & Noble as just a bookstore with a Starbuck’s stand, which isn’t

the case. To change this, Barnes & Noble should advertise themselves as more of a library-type

environment because we believe this would help attract a lot more people, and while they’re

there, they will be enticed to either buy a drink or browse through the books.

Increasing advertising is very effective and practical. We recommend that Barnes &

Noble hire a public relations agency and an advertising agency to revamp their advertising

tactics. We believe this would help to get more customers into the store and would also increase

sales dramatically. By hiring an outside company to come in to advertise, the advertising will be

done at a higher level and the outside opinion will help to target the advertising weaknesses.

With this new advertising tactic it is evident that Barnes & Noble selects one or two target

audiences, which we will discuss further, so that they can cater specifically to those customers

needs and develop a better relationship between the store and those customers. Overall,

increasing advertising can only be beneficial. The more awareness of Barnes & Noble the more

buzz is created about the store and it will help instill the store in people’s memories next time

they realize they need to buy a book.

Increasing Promotions and Discounts

Once Barnes & Noble increases their advertising, they should start improving on

promotions and discounts. To help draw customers to their stores they should incorporate

promotions and sales into their advertising as well. During an in-depth interview one interviewee

said when it came to price, it was a major factor in their decision, and they would definitely be


inclined to at least walk into a Barnes & Noble store if there were promotions. They also

suggested discounts for students with their student IDs.

In our survey conducted 63% of our respondents said price is very important when

deciding where to purchase a book, and 42% said they would be more inclined to go to a

bookstore if there were discounts. Also in our survey 96% of our respondents would go to a

bookstore for a back-to-school discount (all of our respondents were college students) and 75%

said their favorite event would be a sale going on at a bookstore. These results show when

buying books price is the one of the most important factors with convenience.

Barnes & Noble already does have some promotions and discounts but it is very limited

and it is not effectively reaching people in our focus groups, survey, and in-depth interviews.

Therefore, with the expansion of promotions and discounts Barnes & Noble will be able to be

effective in reaching their target audiences. In our survey 75% of our respondents said they

check Facebook more than once a week, following Facebook was Instagram at 63% and Twitter

at 50%. We also asked in our survey what media channels are you most likely to be reached at.

Our results said 46% said email and 25% said social media. Mail, magazine ads, television ads,

and newspaper ads were all under 5%. These results show that our respondents spend most of

their time online, so we recommend using social media and email for discounts and promotions.

With the added use of social media this does not only get your word out about your discounts,

but it also increases awareness and can generate buzz with people liking, sharing, and

commenting on social media promotions.

Creating more discounts and promotions in the store will overall benefit Barnes & Noble

by getting customers into their stores. Outside environmental factors like the economy have

affected consumerism dramatically. People do not have as much money to spend anymore,


therefore, making them conscious of value between brands. Consumers choose the cheapest

route when it comes to getting their books, so if Barnes & Noble had discounts, it would

encourage more customers to go into the store because they feel like they are getting the best

deal.

Target Millennials

Through all our research conducted this semester we realized all of our participants have

been to a Barnes & Noble in their life. Although for most this was when they were children and

their parents brought them. As they got older, they found themselves frequenting the store less

and less. Also, in participant observations we noticed that many kids were in the bookstore with

their parents or grandparents who had that brought them. Children were reading with the adults

or the children would play in the kid’s area while the adults would browse for books or read

themselves. We followed this up in our in-depth interviews and found a theme throughout these

interviews is that shopping at Barnes & Noble was more of a memory for the interviewees rather

than a current experience. Both interviewees discussed how they frequented the store often

during their childhood with their families, but currently do not make the effort to go in on their

own, especially while being in school. One interviewee said, “Whenever I think of Barnes &

Noble I think of people sitting around reading books, and kids sitting around in the children’s

section…you know like a nice ambiance.” The second interviewee noted, “Whenever anyone in

my family goes, we all to go to Barnes & Noble and we all get a lot of gift cards there too, so it’s

just really easy.”

All of these factors lead us at the Einstein Agency to suggest that the company increase

its awareness among millennials. Millennials are considered the “Generation X” and consist of

mainly college students right now. These are the people that will make up Barnes & Noble’s


future target market when they have their own families. Will millennials recall their childhood

memories of Barnes & Noble when it comes time for them to buy books for their own children?

The students we interviewed seemed to have forgotten about the store, and only had childhood

experiences to reflect on due to their parents’ involvement with the bookstore. Barnes & Noble

could focus its ads on consumers’ memories of running back to the children’s section, smelling

Starbucks coffee, playing board games, and sitting around reading books. These ads could be

featured on contemporary social media platforms, as this would create an impression on

millennials who are using them. In this day-in-age, having a poor digital presence is dangerous to

the future of the company. We suggest that Barnes & Noble use family images and the ambiance

of an environment shared with friends and family in its advertising, which would be combining

all three of these tactics listed above.

College Campus Takeover

College student are a great target audience for Barnes & Noble to focus on. Students are

constantly reading, working and drinking coffee. In our survey 42% said they visit the library

weekly, while 25% said monthly and 21% said daily. Only one person said they never visit the

library. Therefore, the Einstein Agency thought Barnes & Noble could have a new approach to

their stores and take over college’s existing bookstores and libraries on campus.

In our survey the top reasons students visited the library was to study, meet for group

projects, and to read. Also in the survey we asked the respondents to describe their feelings if

Barnes & Noble took over their school’s library and bookstore, some of our respondents said the

following:


• “It would be amazing; it would be cool if they made the study environment more like the

Barnes & Noble café.”

• “I like going to Barnes & Noble to study, that atmosphere is nice and quiet.”

• “I would probably go there a little more, just because of my feelings towards the Barnes

& Noble brand.”

• “I would be thrilled. I spend a great deal of time in Barnes & Noble and love their

selection and atmosphere.”

• “I would be very happy with it. I have always been a huge fan of Barnes & Noble so have

that at Ithaca College would be a great addition!”

• “Would love it! It would be amazing to have a legit book store!”

• “I think that it would be more convenient if Barnes & Noble took over my school's

library bookstore.”

The only concern our respondents had was that if Barnes & Noble were to take over their

campus bookstore, the prices of the products would not increase.

We see potential in this age group if Barnes & Noble were to consider more location

changes to campuses. If Barnes & Noble were to be on more campuses, people would use the

bookstore to study and get coffee because of its convenience as well as to buy books from the

store. College students are most concerned with convenience (especially for those without cars)

therefore, if Barnes & Noble were to be on campuses, it would take away that inconvenience

factor for students.

Additionally, if Barnes & Noble were to be on college campuses they could take over the

school’s existing bookstore, library and coffee shops. Most book purchasing is done at college

with the average college student buying/renting 3-4 textbooks a semester. Our client could use


this to their advantage and generate more sales per year. Also, with its location on campus, it

could be a new area for events because campuses have a wide range of groups and clubs that

need areas to meet. If Barnes & Noble could have one or two schools commit to this idea and

show improvement in their sales, many more schools would be inclined to follow the trend.

Textbook Rental Program

Our last tactic is developing a textbook renting program for our client. Textbooks are the

number one type of book sold in today’s society, and Barnes & Noble needs to take advantage of

this. We believe Barnes & Noble’s new target audience should be college students and focusing

on having a presence on campuses, holding events, and selling textbooks to increase overall

sales. This textbook renting tactic would be ideal if combined with the college campus takeover.

As mentioned above, college students renting an average of 3-4 textbooks a semester is a huge

opportunity for Barnes & Noble to profit from. If they could sell their textbook in campus

bookstores and online, they would reach a majority of the students who participated in our

research. All of our participants either bought their books online or in the campus bookstore, so

combine the convenience of offering textbooks and rentals at a low price, and there would be no

reason for students not to buy their textbooks through Barnes & Noble.

The Einstein Agency believes the combination of our recommendations and tactics will

not only increase Barnes & Noble’s sales and awareness, but moreover, with the incorporation of

college’s, our client can reach a whole new market that is different from what they have been

reaching before. The results from our focus group, in-depth interviews, participant observations

and survey nearly guarantee the success of our tactics. Our research was collected over the past

four months, and we believe it is substantial in supporting our recommendations. Implementing


our new tactics would truly benefit the company, and would help bring a better future to Barnes

& Noble bookstores.

Conclusion After thoroughly researching Barnes & Noble as a company, our group can honestly say that the

experience has been positive and helpful in the growth of our skills. Learning effective ways of

researching through in-depth interviews, surveys, focus groups, and observations throughout the

semester changed our original views on the overall project (like there is much more to a survey

than any of us imagined, for example), and the lessons guided us to our final results and

recommendations. Completing the research project for the whole duration of the semester was a

way of showing our group how much work and effort must be put into a project in order to gain

the best results. This type of in-depth research should be crucial when in the strategic

communications field; it’s just one part of the job. It is the results of such research that must be

given to a client in order for them to succeed, and if the results are helpful, then that means the

researcher has succeeded as well. Regardless of the client, learning how to conduct interviews,

focus groups, surveys, and observations will forever help our group as professionals in the

strategic communications industry. We appreciate the knowledge we gained from participating in

this course, and now feel confident in our researching abilities to continue working towards

careers in strategic communications.

barnes & noble research report

Marketing