Principles of Marketing: Final Exam
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Your University

BSA310

Principles of Marketing: Final Exam
Question #1: The concentration of my marketing plan is focused on the declining sales for the company, Barnes & Noble (B&N). Barnes & Noble is in the process of renegotiating our leases and assets in attempts to cut costs. Our sales are declining and we are faced with stiff competition from Amazon, Wal-Mart, Costco, and other discount retailers. According to MSN Money, Barnes & Noble has experienced declining sales, with only 7% increases over the last three years, as compared to Amazon’s 32% (Brush, 2012). Amazon’s increased sales are driven by the introduction of the Kindle Fire and their larger inventory of digital books. The difference in price between Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Amazon’s Kindle Fire are significant, with Kindle Fire being considerably cheaper for a comparable product. Until recently, Amazon was ahead of Barnes & Noble, in offering digital downloads of movies and music. However, announced as New! on our Barnes & Noble website, we have now partnered with Netflix and Marvel to offer streaming movies and comic books. This will increase our connection to the younger generation. While our products are desired and used by all varieties and ages on the spectrum, my suggestion would be to target the college student and younger genres. When we begin to segment the public, we must begin with Generation Y. Their buying power and sheer numbers can not be ignored. They are a tech-savvy group raised on phones, computers, and hand held devices. With their numbers comparing to the Baby Boom generation, they saturate the buying market. In looking to the future, two other generations that should not be overlooked are Generation Z and AO (Always-On-The-Go). These two generations exhibit the need for instant