MARKETING RESEARCH

SPRING 2018

ALBERT B | MARYROSE M | JORGE P | ARYAN S

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WE-SEARCH

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. COMPANY BACKGROUND
2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
3. METHODOLOGY
4. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
5. FINDINGS
6. CONCLUSIONS and RECOMMENDATIONS
7. APPENDICES

• The CSULB Bookstore is managed by the Forty-Niner shops, a non-profit corporation that has been serving the campus community since 1953.

• Forty-niners shops mission is to enhance and support the educational process of CSULB by providing goods and services to promote a learning community; by training student employees with life and career skills; and by funding scholarships, internships, and other programs that promote student success.

• Every penny spent at the bookstore stays on campus and helps fund campus programs and course material scholarships.

COMPANY BACKGROUND

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COMPANY BACKGROUND

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• Allows students to select textbooks from all available formats and prices.

• Textbook Options:
• Textbook Rentals
• New and Used Textbooks
• Loose-leaf
• Digital Textbooks

• The University Bookstore also offers instant, online price comparisons with BeachBookCompare.

• The books store does not only sell textbooks but also school supplies, clothing, technology, and graduation gear.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

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• To understand current consumer knowledge of the bookstore.
• To understand new textbook rental and purchasing options.
• To understand who is more likely to buy textbooks at the bookstore.
• To understand what form of textbooks are used by Long Beach students.
• To understand consumer response to current textbook prices.
• To understand the needs of current CSULB students.

Problem Description: CSULB Bookstore experiencing declining textbook sales.

METHODOLOGY

Sampling Design

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• Our target market to be surveyed were any students currently enrolled in CSULB.
• Any major who has used the on-campus bookstore to buy/rent textbooks.

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Convenience sampling strategy

• 25+ Internet surveys through SurveyMonkey.com
• 25+ Intercept surveys (physical copies)

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Reasoning:

• High response rate, limited amount of time
• Location provides easy response rates
• Rapid deployment and real time reporting
• Low costs
• Same questions, less errors

METHODOLOGY

Internet Surveys

Intercept Surveys

METHODOLOGY

Executive Summary

The primary aim of the task was to conduct research on factors obstructing students from making purchases from the CSULB’s bookstore, which is leading to a decline in sales. Initially, our team distributed a survey by Email to current CSULB students from different grade levels. It appears that there is 78% preference from students to purchase books from Amazon compare to a 59% CSULB bookstore preference. Majority of respondents agreed that they preferred a hardcopy or loose-leaf copy of the book. This gives the bookstore an advantage in retaining customers who preferred a physical copy. However, more than half of respondents believe that a loyalty program will be an incentive to make purchases at the bookstore.

Executive Summary

Furthermore, there was a 22% interest, which rank the highest, to take a course using a digital copy. This is one of the areas where the bookstore can dominate and retain consumers who want a more convenient way to shop for books rather than waiting in line. Lastly, majority of respondents only visited the bookstore an average of 5 times in the previous semester, fall 2017. A potential solution to drive students to purchase at CSULB’s bookstore and increase sales, is to create new incentives, like a loyalty program, which will increase traffic within the bookstore. Making digital copies of books available online to students will also help the business dominate online book purchases, while making it more convenient and efficient for students to shop. These two solutions can result in customer satisfaction and increase sales.

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• 60 % of respondents were Female
• 38% of respondents were Male
• 2% of respondents did not disclose their gender

Demographics: Gender

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60%

• There were no Freshman respondents
• 2% of respondents were Sophomores
• 20% were Juniors
• 66% were Seniors
• 12% were Graduate Students

Demographics: Class Level

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• A majority of our respondents were from the College of Business (54%)
• 20% were from Health and Human Services
• 18% were from Liberal Arts
• 8% College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Demographics: Major

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• The mean age was 23.34 years
• A majority of our respondents were between the age of 21 to 24 (76%)
• 6% were 20 years old
• 26% were 21
• 16% were 22
• 14% were 23
• 20% were 24
• 18% were 25 and older

Demographics: Age

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This chart compares student class level and whether or not they believe textbook prices are competitive with other retailers such as Amazon and Chegg

• 70% of respondents believed that CSULB bookstore prices were not competitive
• 30% believed they are competitive

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Are the Bookstore Prices Competitive?

• Price was the most important factor when purchasing textbooks
• Class usage, discounts, ability to rent and ability to use previous editions were also important factors
• Having a new book was not important at all for many respondents

Factors when Purchasing Textbooks

Number of Respondents

• 20% of respondents are extremely unlikely to get textbooks from bookstore
• 45% of respondents are not likely to use the bookstore (1-4)
• 20% are neutral (5-6)
• 35% are likely to use the bookstore (7-10)

Likelihood of Visiting Bookstore

What have we learned from this data?

• Students have many alternatives, other than the bookstore, for purchasing and renting textbooks
• In many cases, these alternatives are cheaper and we found that price is an extremely important factor when our respondents are getting textbooks
• For many students, the bookstore is no longer the first option for acquiring textbooks
• To attract students:
• Create a loyalty program that benefits students who use the bookstore
• Offer a cheaper digital copy of textbooks
• Make prices more competitive with other retailers

Conclusion and Recommendations

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Appendices