Marketing Communications Mix

Barnes and Nobles online does very little advertising that is seperate from the actual stores. The company, as a whole, advertises as a single unit. The company does not run television ads or radio campaigns, nor do they create billboards. They do, however, sell thier gift cards at other stores. This makes the readily available and is a small sign within another store promoting themselves. The company also sends weekly emails out advertising new books that will be released soon to encourage customers to come in and buy them. Also, when searched in places such as google, Barnes and Nobles is listed as a sponsored link under the search bookstore. As a whole Barnes and Nobles does very little advertising.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.06/barnes.html
The company does run a series of successful promotions. One such promotion is the B&N Membership Card. Customers pay $25 per year to have this membership and then they receive discounts on various merchandise. They also receive a weekly email with additional sales. This membership encourages customer loyalty because customers will not get the same discount if the go somewhere else.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/membership/join2.asp?cds2Pid=16937
Finally, Barnes and Nobles runs sales frequently on various titles. Currently they are running promotions with discounts on gift ideas for mothers day and graduation.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/index.asp

Price and Distribution

Barnes and Nobles Online has very little control over its pricing. Ultimately, the must charge the price that the publisher wishes them to. If they are unwilling to charge this price the publisher can simply refuse to sell the book to Barnes and Nobles. However, Barnes and Nobles has acquired a large market share in the bookselling industry and it is predicted that it will ultimately become the largest seller of books in the near future.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/WillBarnesAndNobleWinTheBookWars.aspx
This will allow them to have more power over the publishers. If they sell more books than anyone else, the publishers will be more willing to negotiate to ensure that their books are sold through Barnes and Nobles Online.
In order to distribute the massive number of books Barnes and Nobles Online sells every day they maintain a distribution center in Jamesburg, NJ. From this warehouse many books are kept in stock. However, not all of the books offered on the website are kept in stock at all times. Books that are sold less frequently are only purchased from the publisher when an order is placed for it. This method works well for the company. It prevents them from having overstock which they will never sell and allows them to offer thousands of titles beyond what they have the capability to store. Also, Barnes and Nobles has established a good relationship with many publishers which allows them to obtain books quickly and ship the quickly to their customers.
http://www.captaris.com/news_and_events/case_studies/Barnes_Noble.html

Target Markets

One target market of Barnes and Nobles Online is the college student. The online website has a link to Barnes and Nobles College Bookstore website. At this link, students can find what books they need for a particular class and order them through the bookstore. The student can also request used copies of the book. The store will then ship them the books or allow them to pick up the books at their college bookstore. Another portion of this site allows students to get a quote of what they could sell their used textbooks for. This makes it convenient for the students.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/textbooks/index.asp

Another target market includes children. The "Barnes and Nobles Jr." section of the website advertises toys and books that would be attractive to children. This section is also attractive to parents as well because it breaks the products down into age ranges. Breaking it down in this manner allows for parents to be more aware of what is appropriate for their children.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bn-junior/index.asp?r=1

A final target market is those who cinema buffs. Barnes and Nobles online provides a wide variety of DVDs that may not be found anywhere else. This is attractive to those who enjoy films that may not be main stream.
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/dvds/index.asp?

Environment

Barnes and Nobles as a company provides many incentives for their employees in order to nurture the internal component of its micro environment. It provides the employees with discounts, benefits, and the ability to be promoted from within. The external component of its environment may provide the largest challenge for the company as a whole. This is because the publishers of books tend to control the price at which items can be sold. It hinders the company's abilities to adjust prices and compete with other sellers. Barnes and Nobles does have some influence over the publishers, however, because they have a very large market share. Many publishers would rather reduce their prices than not have their book sold at Barnes and Nobles. Citizen actions groups also provide an obstacle because they do not always agree with the content of the books, music, and movies that are being sold by Barnes and Nobles. The company does not sell some material because of its content. The company often donates books to educational organizations to provide service to the community.
The macro environment also plays a role in Barnes and Nobles' plans. When the economy experiences hardships such as tight credit markets, it tends to slow down plans of expansion. Newer technology has begun to cause a shift from paper books to ebooks. Barnes and Nobles has made this transition and Barnes and Nobles online now offers a variety of ebooks for sale. Finally, Barnes and Nobles tends to appeal to many demographics. Barnes and Nobles online was estblished in order to attract the members of the more tech savy gernerations.

Positioning

Barnes and Nobles Online tends to have average quality products and selections at high prices. Although the prices of their books are based on publisher requests, they rarely have sales or offer discounts. Also, the other products they sell including CD's and DVDs are priced higher than they would normally be found for at other stores. They provide a wider selection than typical stores which allows them to charge such high prices. Also, the quality of the products purchased on Barnes and Nobles online are is no different than a book you would find else where. It is, however, presented in a more convenient manner.

Core Competency

The product Barnes and Nobles offers is no different from any other book that you would find at any other bookstore. A copy of War and Peace purchased there will have the same words in it that a copy purchased from Borders will have. Also, the promotion Barnes and Nobles has is very limited. There are few advertisements that are memorable that come from this company. Finally, the price control that Barnes and Nobles has is limited as well. The price they charge is largely dependent on how much the publisher is charging. The core competency of Barnes and Nobles Online is place. Barnes and Nobles online can order and find almost any book a consumer desires. Also, their website is easy to use and search making locating the product a breeze. Finally, they are willing to ship the product to you or allow you to pick the product up in a local store. This provides the customer with a great deal of convenience.

Mission Statement

On the Barnes and Nobles site a long detailed description of what the companies mission is given. It is not the typical three sentence mission statement. It can be reviewed by following the link: http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/our_company/mission/our_mission.html. The mission is focused on running a business that is good "regardless of the product." The web page goes on to focus on the importance of customer service and their employees being quality booksellers. Ultimately it states that the "company is at their service." On the mission statement website for the Fortune 500 companies the part of this mission that is actually the core mission statement is listed: http://www.missionstatements.com/fortune_500_mission_statements.html. Overall, the company’s key focus seems to be providing quality service to the community around them.

Hello!

This blog is a project for a markting course. It will be following the online component of Barnes and Nobles.