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Barnes & Noble Marketing Analysis

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Customers
Barnes & Noble is a fortune 500 company that offers a variety of products including books, magazines, and movies. The retail book industry appeals to a variety of customers, with the most frequent customer base being those above 55 years old. The company has two divisions: retail and college bookstores. Their retail division consists of over 600 stores across 50 states and barnbesandnoble.com and the college bookstore division consists of over 600 college stores (Greenfield, 2014). Even though the company’s primary business is trading books, there is also a large online customer base that appeals to the younger generation.

Competitors
Retailers such as Amazon and Borders are Barnes & Noble’s main competitors. Amazon is the company’s biggest competition as it competes is every business segment as Barnes & Noble and offer similar products. Other large retail bookstores compete by offering books both in store and online. Barnes & Noble does compete with small independent bookstores, but because they offer limited selections, these retailers are not considered strong competitors.
With the recent shift of publishing company’s business model and advancements in technology, Barnes & Noble also compete with companies offering digital e-reader services including Amazon, Apple, and other tablets based on Google’s Android platform. The introduction of Amazon’s Kindle HD devices in 2007 severely affected Barnes & Noble sells as customers switched from hard/printed books to e-books. Apple has become a strong competitor with the introduction of the iPad. Apple’s iPad and iPad Mini have gained major success in the market. Although Barnes & Noble is still a firm number two behind Amazon, “Amazon and Apple are gaining market share, while Barnes & Noble is losing it” (Greenfield, 2014). Industry Analysis
The retail book industry includes the sale of both physical and digital books and is divided into general, college, and specialty stores. The industry is being redefined by the increase in online retailers and the switch to digital books. The technology revolution taking place in the publishing industry depicts the future possibility that printed book industry might vanish (Hutt & Speh, 2012; Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2008). The industry is presently dominated by online publishing companies that are able to access authors and readers worldwide providing a wide range of collection to users.

Marketing Strategy
The center of Barnes & Noble marketing are strategies to increase traffic both in stores and online. In store, the company expanded its market to include toys and games, which increased profit by 12% during the 2013 Christmas season (Trachtenberg, 2014). Barnesandnoble.com receives over 300 million visits annually and a result, the company “believes that the website provides significant advertising power which would be valued in the tens of millions of dollars (Barnes, n.d.).” Another component of their marketing strategy is the Barnes & Noble MasterCard. Card members receive a 5% rebate on all purchases made in store or at barnesandnoble.com. Additionally, points are rewarded on all other purchases and can be redeemed for Barnes & Noble gift cards (Rubadou, B., Anderson, C., Metcalf, D., Loitherstein, J., Wingert, R., & Callaway, W., n.d.).
Barnes & Noble has recently created a strategy for its college bookstore division. Books will continue to be provided to students both in physical form and through online platforms, but changes to its website to provide more accessibility; allowing any student within the country to purchase and receive textbooks.
Barnes & Noble has realized the shift in the digital e-reader market and as a result launched the Nook in 2009. It proved to be a positive strategy to step into the digital e-reader services for the customers. The Nook is considered to be one of the popular product brands regarding e-book readers. In order to face rising challenges in the publishing industry, Barnes & Noble realizes the importance of improving the Nook and have implemented strategies to improve its position in the market. Barnes & Noble recently released the Nook Simple Touch GlowLight, which includes a brighter screen and weighs less. To compete with the new Kindle Paperwhite, Barnes & Noble members received a 10%.

Marketing Mix
Product: Barnes & Noble provides hard copies of books and online books to its customers.
Price: Barnes & Noble uses competitive pricing strategy. Although a fixed pricing strategy was initially used, recently the company has been forced to follow Amazon by providing flexibility and competing on low prices.
Promotion: The promotions are mostly done through social media. The company also offers discount coupons, promo codes, and free shipping to its members.
Place: The products of Barnes & Noble are available all around U.S. and in other countries through its website, which provides a competitive advantage to Barnes & Noble booksellers/publishers. The company offers worldwide delivery of printed and electronic books.
References
Barnes. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Barnes_&_Noble_(BKS)/Merchandising_Marketing

Greenfield, J. (2014, March 24). Is Apple Now the No. 2 Ebook Retailer in the U.S.? Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2014/is-apple-now-the-no-2-ebook-retailer-in-the-u-s/

Greenfield, J. (2014, June 25). Barnes & Noble To Split Into Two Companies But Will Investors Bite? Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremygreenfield/2014/06/25/barnes-noble-to-split-into-two-companies-but-will-investors-bite/

Hutt, M., & Speh, T. (2012). Business Marketing Management: B2B. Boston: Cengage Learning

Lamb, C., Hair, J., & McDaniel, C. (2008). Marketing. Boston: Cengage Learning

Trachtenberg, J. (2014, April 17). What's Barnes & Noble's Survival Plan? Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303626804579507321532982730

Rubadou, B., Anderson, C., Metcalf, D., Loitherstein, J., Wingert, R., & Callaway, W. (n.d.). Stock Market Simulation. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from https://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-010610-184241/unrestricted/0905-Final.pdf

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