IN-STORE EVENT NEEDS AND TECHNOLOGY USE AMONG HALF PRICE BOOKS CUSTOMERS
Steven K. Wilson
Thesis Prepared for the Degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
December 2013
APPROVED:
Ann T. Jordan, Committee Chair Susan Squires, Committee Member Nancy Spears, Committee Member Lisa Henry, Chair of the Department of Anthropology Thomas Evenson, Dean of the College of Public Affairs and Community Service Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Wilson, Steven K. In-Store Event Needs and Technology Use among Half Price Books
Customers. Master of Science (Applied Anthropology), December 2013, 115 pp., 17 tables, 13
figures, references, 78 titles.
Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Inc. (HPB), fills a unique niche by selling a variety
of new, used and rare merchandise primarily in their chain of 116 stores in sixteen states and
online. The company has noticed increased mobile device use among customers in their stores
while sales have declined in recent years. To remain viable HPB is attempting to adapt to
market forces in a timely manner while remaining continually interested in growth and
innovation. A major part of adapting, growing, and innovating is the adoption and astute
utilization of technology in-store and a more complete understanding of their customers’ activities and preferences. The goal is to make Half Price Books a more technologically savvy destination for shopping, community events, and entertainment. One purpose of this study is
to give the company a better idea of how customers use technology in searching for
merchandise including information searches generated in-store from mobile devices and how
customers use the internet to find merchandise prior to and following their experiences in
HPB’s stores. Another important purpose is to also determine what kinds of events such as
book signings, poetry readings and other special events customers would like to see at Half
Price Books, since the company has indicated a strong desire to provide fun and memorable
experiences as well as products. The major research aims of this study are (1) To explore how
customers use technology in searching for books in relation to two Half Price Books locations in
Arlington, Texas and (2) To determine what customers want in terms of in-store events at these
same locations.
Copyright 2013
by
Steven K. Wilson
ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would first like to thank my client sponsor, Scott LaChance, for allowing me to conduct this research project and for being so receptive when I initially proposed the idea in August of
2012. I would also like to thank the employees and customers of both the North Arlington and
South Arlington Half Price Books locations for graciously accommodating me throughout the duration of the project. I also want to give my sincerest thanks to my committee chair, Dr. Ann
T. Jordan for her years of patience, guidance, and sage advice. I also want to thank my committee members, Dr. Susan Squires and Dr. Nancy Spears, for their service and remarkable insights. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Beverly Ann Davenport, Dr. Christina Wasson, and the Anthropology faculty for their terrific help and mentorship during my time at the
University of North Texas. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my fellow graduate students too numerous to name here for their friendship, support, and advice over the years. I also would like to give a special thanks to my mentors as an anthropology undergraduate at the
University of Texas at Arlington, especially Dr. R. Jeffrey Frost and Dr. Josephine Caldwell-Ryan.
Lastly, my family and my girlfriend deserve a very special thanks for all of their love, compassion, support, and encouragement.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... iii
LIST OF TABLES ...... viii
LIST OF FIGURES ...... ix
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... x
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...... 1
Purpose of the Study ...... 3
Research Aims ...... 3
Delimitations ...... 4
Limitations ...... 4
The Researcher’s Assumptions ...... 5
Importance of the Study ...... 6
Glossary ...... 6
Deliverables ...... 6
CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF THE STUDY ...... 8
Literature Review ...... 8
Technology Use in Bookstores by Customers ...... 8
The Adaptation of Publishing and Bookselling to Ecommerce and Electronic books ...... 9
HPB Publicity and News Releases ...... 9
Anthropology and Consumer Research...... 10
Ethnographic Research Concerning Bookstore Employees and Customers ...... 11
Theoretical Orientation...... 14
iv Ecological Theory ...... 14
Market Segmentation ...... 15
Half Price Books: Company Overview and Description of the Research Sites ...... 17
Half Price Books: History and Adaptive Strategies...... 17
The North Arlington Research Site ...... 19
The South Arlington Research Site ...... 20
The Store Environment ...... 21
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ...... 23
Observation ...... 23
Customer Observation ...... 24
Employee Observation ...... 24
Section Density Counts ...... 25
Store Intercept Interviews ...... 25
Semi-Structured Interviews ...... 26
Customer Interviews ...... 26
Employee Interviews ...... 28
Data Analysis ...... 29
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND FINDINGS...... 31
Discussion of Customer Behavior Observed In-Store ...... 31
In-store Customer Behaviors, Technology Use, Observed Devices, and List Handling ...... 31
Merchandise Related Users ...... 33
Non-Merchandise Related Users ...... 33
v Observed Devices ...... 34
List Handling by Customers ...... 34
Section Density Counts ...... 35
In-store Intercept Interviewee Volunteers...... 37
Findings: Customer Behavior Observed In-store...... 39
Discussion of Customer Interview Data ...... 40
General Customer In-depth Interview Demographics ...... 40
Customer Behaviors, Categories, and Segmentation ...... 40
Describing the 6 Categories of HPB Customer Behavior ...... 40
Establishing Possible Customer Shopping Orientations for Market Segmentation ...... 52
Findings: Customer Behavior Interviews ...... 60
Discussion of Employee Interview Data ...... 62
Employee Search Strategies ...... 62
Employees’ Use of Electronic Resources ...... 65
Employees’ Observations of Customer Technology Use ...... 72
Findings: Employee Interviews ...... 72
Events and Promotions ...... 73
Findings: Events and Promotions ...... 81
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 82
Discussion ...... 82
Conclusion ...... 85
Recommendations ...... 87
vi CHAPTER 6: REFLECTIONS ...... 92
APPENDICES ...... 94
REFERENCES ...... 104
vii LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Observed devices ...... 34
Table 2. List handling by customers ...... 35
Table 3. The top 5 occupied sections for N. Arlington ...... 36
Table 4. The top 5 occupied sections for S. Arlington ...... 36
Table 5. The bottom 5 occupied sections for N. Arlington ...... 37
Table 6. The bottom 5 occupied sections for S. Arlington ...... 37
Table 7. General customer sample demographics ...... 40
Table 8. Category 1: Technology Ownership and Experience (A-D) ...... 41
Table 9. Category 2: Amazon Usage (E-G) ...... 43
Table 10. Category 3: Barnes & Noble Patronage (H-K) ...... 43
Table 11. Category 4: Half Price Books Patronage (L-Q) ...... 44
Table 12. Category 5: Item Acquisition, Deposition, and Storytelling (R-AB) ...... 46
Table 13. Category 6: Recommendation Sources (AC-AI) ...... 50
Table 14. Sums included with age and gender ...... 52
Table 15. Direct customer data sources from the store intercepts and in-depth interviews ..... 53
Table 16. Sums included with age, gender, and potential segment ...... 58
Table 17. General employee sample demographics ...... 62
viii LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. The North Arlington research site ...... 19
Figure 2. The South Arlington research site ...... 20
Figure 3. A Half Pint Library donations shelf talker featuring B.W. the Bookworm ...... 22
Figure 4. Methodological components ...... 23
Figure 5. Merchandise related users and non-merchandise related users, N=271 ...... 32
Figure 6. Technology use in store intercept interviews, N=10 ...... 39
Figure 7. Recommendation sources ...... 50
Figure 8. Most promising potential market segments and preferences ...... 55
Figure 9. Most promising potential market segments ...... 55
Figure 10. Bookworm and its supporting databases, SIPS and Shelf Scan ...... 67
Figure 11. S. Arlington’s new event flyer featuring a QR code from mid-May 2013 ...... 73
Figure 12. Retro Media Night flyer placement. Flyer marked by red arrow ...... 76
Figure 13. The Seadog Slam performing at the N. Arlington store ...... 78
ix EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Statement of the Problem
Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Inc. (HPB), the client of this study, fills a unique niche by selling a variety of new, used and rare merchandise primarily in their chain of 116 stores in sixteen states and online. The company has noticed increased mobile device use in their stores while sales have declined in recent years. To remain viable HPB is attempting to adapt to market forces in a timely manner while remaining continually interested in growth and innovation. The goal is to make Half Price Books a more technologically savvy destination for shopping, community events, and entertainment.
Research Objectives
The major research objectives of this study are (1) To explore how customers use technology in searching for books in relation to two Half Price Books locations in Arlington,
Texas and (2) To determine what customers want in terms of in-store events at these same locations.
Methods
I used three major methods for this study: (1) observation, (2) store intercept interviews, and (3) semi-structured interviews. Observation included: customer observation, section density counts of customer traffic, and HPB employee observation. The store intercept interviews targeted the customers’ observed interactions with mobile technology. The semi- structured interviews included ten randomly selected customers and eight employee volunteers from the two Arlington stores.
x Major Findings and Accompanying Recommendations
Finding: The majority of technology use was not related to the customers’ shopping experience.
Customers used technology in a myriad of ways, for example texting and playing video games.
Finding: Customers desire product recommendations, but admit to having difficulty locating a source for them. Electronic media outlets serve as recommendation sources more so than friends.
Recommendation: Improve communication between same-store employees and nearby
HPB stores for sharing product knowledge.
Recommendation: Actively provide customers with product recommendations.
Finding: The ability to visually inspect and buy physical products is preferred. Customers collect
a variety of products related to their favorite film and movie series.
Finding: A total of five potential marketing segments were identified, but the three most
promising potential segments of bargain browsers, connected collectors, and multi-format
selectors are the most engaged with HPB’s store environment and employees. The two other potential segments of required readers and resellers are less involved with HPB.
Recommendation: Cater more to the potential market segments of the customers.
Finding: Employees use different search strategies depending on the situation. In all cases, their
memory and recent in-store experiences (including those of their co-workers) are preferred as
opposed to using electronic resources.
Recommendation: Address employees concerns regarding technology.
Recommendation: Alleviate the time pressure and stress experienced by employees
caused by technology.
xi Finding: Both events and promotions at the two Arlington HPB stores seem to have been met
with mixed success.
Recommendation: Poll HPB customers for event ideas.
Recommendation: Events can be a collaborative partnership between stores.
Recommendation: Consider having fewer, but better sales and promotions.
Recommendation: Take note of customers’ verbal suggestions and complaints.
Finding: Both customers and employees suggested that better advertising of HPB events and promotions is required to improve attendance.
Recommendation: Improve promotion of events.
Recommendations in More Detail
1. Improve communication between same-store employees and nearby HPB stores for sharing product knowledge.
• Develop a system of communicating between employees from one day to the next. Pair-
up employees between stores to share information and bridge the gaps in each other’s
knowledge to build cross-HPB relationships and provide better product
recommendations to the customers.
2. Actively provide customers with product recommendations.
• Repurpose shelf talkers to recommend similar authors in fiction sections which can fulfill
the recommendation roles of the employees when they are otherwise committed.
3. Poll HPB customers for event ideas.
• Encourage suggestions from the customers for event ideas. Evaluate the possibilities for
letting individual customers host events such as book clubs or live performances.
xii 4. Events can be a collaborative partnership between stores.
• Stores lacking event space such as S. Arlington could partner with nearby stores with
event space. This will relieve the stress of event planning and hosting if information and
staff can be shared to accomplish this goal while strengthening cross-HPB employee
relationships.
5. Consider having fewer, but better sales and promotions.
• Customers have lost enthusiasm for sales because of their frequency and perceived low
discounts. Conduct more research concerning rarer sales and raising the sale discount
percentage at a corporate marketing level.
6. Improve promotion of events.
• Place flyers in more visible locations and announce events on the store loud speaker.
7. Address employees concerns regarding technology.
• Communicate ways to overcome and accept the perceived “rudeness” of “phone
shoving” by customers to better handle and accept this change in customer behavior.
8. Alleviate the time pressure and stress experienced by employees caused by technology.
• Reconsider job design, daily/hourly job rotation, scheduling, and individual employee
strengths so customers do not experience sub-standard service.
9. Cater more to the possible market segments of the customers.
The potential market segments in this study illustrate an important factor in addressing the needs and wants of shoppers. Focus on the browsing and sensory advantages present in the store which cannot be easily replicated online to address their needs and wants:
xiii • Bargain browsers: When possible, display a special cart of Clearance books in or near
the Clearance section to temporarily expand the size of the section and further pique
the interest of this potential market segment. Remember that Clearance merchandise
should be clean, appealing, and reasonably priced.
• Connected collectors: Build displays targeted to series, cross-format, and franchise
collectors. This will increase the purchases of series books, vinyl albums in addition to
compact discs, and books which have been adapted as movies. For example,
commemorate film release dates for popular franchises such as Star Wars by building a
display featuring DVDs, CD soundtracks, novels, comics, and collectibles related to the
movies.
• Multi-format selectors: Consider displaying small signs which could compare HPB’s
lower prices for certain items against the prices for the same item as an Amazon Kindle
or iTunes download. Better promote the new and discounted best sellers from Baker &
Taylor as these titles are often downloaded in lieu of the physical book because this
potential segment and others do not yet consider HPB as a source for new releases.
• Required readers: This potential segment is likely pressed for time, so consider stocking
a few recognized and in-demand reading list titles at the register to make it easier for
them to locate. Look for opportunities to inform this potential segment of HPB’s other
services such as Search and Ship (SAS) or store-to-store transfers which may help them
in the future.
• Resellers: Consider adding more textbook shelves in the non-fiction sections to assist
this potential segment in locating what they desire which may benefit some required
xiv readers as well. If the textbooks are closer together, this may minimize what some
employees view as disruptive barcode scanning. The resellers are customers first and
should not be viewed as direct competitors to the stores. HPB and its subsidiaries, the
resellers, and other booksellers regularly compete with Amazon and the internet.
10. Take note of customers’ verbal suggestions and complaints.
• Make an effort to track this data for the manager to review weekly. This will provide
insights to what customers like and dislike about the HPB store experience.
Conclusion
In consideration of the data, the use of technology by customers is a positive rather than competing force due to the considerable lack of actual “showrooming”. Bookstores and physical items which can be directly inspected are still preferable by HPB shoppers, a definite advantage over online retailers and downloadable media. Events are desired by both populations who already recognize the unforeseen costs of providing these as an extra service.
HPB has the opportunity to leverage passing verbal complaints as feedback to its advantage.
There is great potential in altering current approaches to customer service, staffing, communication, and planning.
xv CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Brick-and-mortar bookstores are facing increased competition from online retailers and electronic media downloads. The recent bankruptcy of Borders in 2011 and the growing success of web-based retailers such as Amazon.com reflect this trend. This coupled with Apple’s iTunes and iBooks and the proliferation of e-readers and tablet computers has changed the landscape of media and book sales in recent years. These changes are being noticed by publishers, retailers, and independent booksellers who have no choice but to face these changes directly.
To remain competitive in our connected world - customer care, events, and promotions are becoming increasingly important to traditional retailers.
The feared death of printed books seems like a very real possibility due to competition
from digital books and online retailing, but it represents a lot of misunderstanding of the actual
conditions. One such misunderstanding is that e-books are solely responsible for the demise of
Borders. A closer look at Border’s business practices includes questionable real estate choices
with less than idea locations with extremely long leases and a major corporate restructuring in
2001 (Austen 2011, Trager 2005). Borders missed early opportunities with internet retailing and
eventually partnered with Amazon before establishing their own fully functional website
(Austen 2011). Unlike Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Borders was a late entry to the e-reader
market which could not compete with the Kindle or Nook eReaders (Austen 2011). Conversely,
Barnes & Noble was much more aggressive in the above areas in which Border’s failed; tried
earnestly to keep pace with Amazon.com without ever partnering with the internet retailing
giant, and had more consistent leadership during these critical times (Austen 2011). However,
1 Barnes & Noble too faces an uncertain future as signaled by several unprofitable quarters, the
recent resignation of CEO William Lynch Jr., and announcements to significantly scale back its
retail operations as leases expire (Minzesheimer 2013).
Independent booksellers struggle against online retailing just as Barnes & Noble does,
but have decidedly fewer resources to combat Amazon. As a result, independent bookstores
are becoming more creative in terms of serving their customers and embracing technology.
Seattle’s Third-Place Books functions as a community center by offering classes, food, and live
music while embracing technology including mobile apps and social media (Gunter 2011).
Another fascinating issue, given the global nature of the World Wide Web, is the crisis of e-
books and internet retailing versus physical booksellers is not confined to the United States.
This trend reflects Appadurai’s (1996) larger mediascapes and ideoscapes in a global cultural
economy (1996:35-37) which is increasingly facilitated by the internet. Booksellers in Brazil,
Japan, and the United Kingdom are also trying to create better in-store experiences, provide
engaging events, (Reynolds 2009, Fitzpatrick 2012) and even partner with Amazon to sell Kindle
eReaders and downloads in-store in addition to their physical inventory (Campbell 2012).
Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Inc. (HPB), the client of this study, fills a unique niche by selling a variety of new, used and rare merchandise primarily in their chain of 116 stores in sixteen states and online. The company’s website, hpb.com, outlines their business model and motto as “buying and selling anything ever printed or recorded, except yesterday’s newspaper” (Half Price Books, n.d.). Although the original founders are both deceased, company control remains in the family, with Sharon Anderson Wright, the daughter of co-
founder Pat Anderson, who has tried to continue expanding the company and integrating new
2 inventory technologies while maintaining a strong focus on customer service and marketing efforts.
Purpose of the Study
To remain viable HPB is attempting to adapt to market forces in a timely manner while remaining continually interested in growth and innovation. A major part of adapting, growing, and innovating is the adoption and astute utilization of technology in-store and a more complete understanding of their customers’ activities and preferences. The goal is to make Half
Price Books a more technologically savvy destination for shopping, community events, and entertainment. One purpose of this study is to give the company a better idea of how customers use technology in searching for merchandise including information searches generated in-store from mobile devices and how customers use the internet to find merchandise prior to and following their experiences in a HPB store. Another important purpose is to also determine what kinds of events such as book signings, poetry readings and other special events customers would like to see at Half Price Books, since the company has indicated a strong desire to provide fun and memorable experiences as well as products. The marketplace, the company, and its customers are all changing simultaneously and this study is a small-scale exploration of possible avenues for further development within the store research sites, at other local stores, or as a larger marketing strategy.
Research Aims
The company has noticed increased device use in their stores while sales have declined in recent years. The company has never been able to effectively research their customers in the store environment or gain ethnographic insights from in-depth interviews which could
3 potentially assist their marketing efforts. The major research aims of this study are (1) To explore how customers use technology in searching for books in relation to two Half Price
Books locations in Arlington, Texas and (2) To determine what customers want in terms of in- store events at these same locations.
Delimitations
The research project was delimited to include store-level employees and a random
selection of customer volunteers from the two stores. The study did not include any customers
or employees from any stores outside of the boundaries of Arlington, Texas or HPB corporate
employees. Additionally, HPB Marketplace customers could not feasibly be considered as
participants in keeping with the aims of the study. Employee and customer interviews were
both purposive with criterion and expert sampling employed to address the research questions
in a responsible manner (Given 2008). Finally, preliminary research in the literature review was
delimited to industry trade publications, HPB-related news and articles, and relevant research
in organizational anthropology, consumer anthropology, and consumer behavior.
Limitations
• Due to the exploratory nature of the study, the results contained herein only reflect the
samples selected from the two stores in Arlington, Texas and cannot be generalized or
assumed to represent all views of HPB employees and customers.
• Permission was received from HPB to conduct the study in November 2012 at the two
Arlington, Texas locations by Tarrant County District Manager, Scott LaChance, but the
finalized proposal was not agreed upon until early January 2013. After IRB approval, the
research period lasted from March 1 – May 31, 2013. During this time sales, promotions,
4 and, temporary staffing shortages somewhat affected interview scheduling and planned
participant observation with HPB employees.
• Given the depth of the research scope and sampling process, all employees and
customers could not have possibly been considered for inclusion.
• The researcher is a former employee of HPB and made every effort to control his natural
pre-existing bias at all times during the research process and writing of the thesis.
• Occasionally in the customer interviews, some customers erroneously identified me as a
current representative of HPB, and not an independent consultant, prior to being
reminded of my actual status.
• My presence or the setting of the interview may have affected the responses of the
participants.
Assumptions
• HPB is interested in learning about the technology use and event preferences of their
customers and employees.
• Customers were interested in contributing meaningful data to potentially improve both
their future experiences at HPB and the company’s success.
• The compensation for customer interviewees of a $20 HPB gift card was fair and
adequate.
• Employees were interested in contributing their time and knowledge of company
policies and processes to potentially improve the successful function of the company.
• The compensation for employee interviews at their regular HPB pay rate during
scheduled working hours for the interview was also fair and adequate.
5 • All participants were honest in their responses at all times.
Importance of the Study
This research represents a unique and unprecedented opportunity for HPB to gain
deeper insights to the intrinsically connected activities of their customers and employees.
Historically, the company has relied on sales reports as an indicator of a location’s success, but
had no way of feasibly exploring the various processes which actually drive success and
customer traffic. These complex and intertwining processes include several activities such as
information searches, item location, and customer interaction just to name a few. With
noticeable increases in mobile technology in the stores, the company has felt that they are
being challenged by a formidable alternative competitor, the online retailer. This study provides
specialized qualitative information on two of their stores which can augment existing company
observations of present conditions and their previously more quantitative market research
activities.
Glossary
A glossary of terms (see Appendix A) used at HPB and in this document is located in the appendices.
Deliverables
During the initial project negotiations, the client sponsor and I agreed the results of presentation would be in the form of a written report and an oral presentation to be shared with the client sponsor, the store managers and employees of both the N. Arlington and S.
Arlington stores, and members of HPB’s marketing department in Dallas, Texas. The report addressed the study’s research questions with a detailed analysis of customer behavior
6 concerning technology use, employee experiences and search strategies, and employee and
customer views of in-store events and promotions. The report also provides HPB with insights
of how customers use technology before, during, and after their in-store experience with appropriate visualizations of the data. More importantly, the report helps answers the question of why customers prefer patronizing Half Price Books instead of internet shopping or downloading digital media such as e-books and provides recommendations for meeting the changing needs of their customers.
7 CHAPTER 2
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
Literature Review
This part of the research process focused on six of important issues concerning:
• Technology use in bookstores by customers
• The adaptation of publishing and bookselling to Ecommerce and
electronic books
• HPB publicity and news releases
• Anthropology and consumer research
• Ethnographic research concerning bookstore employees and customers
• Theoretical orientation
Technology Use in Bookstores by Customers
Lately, a lot of attention has been paid to the phenomenon of “showrooming” in which a customer uses an internet-enabled device as a price comparison tool in a retail environment so that he may later buy the product from an online outlet rather than a brick-and-mortar store
(Teicher 2013). The Codex Group, self described as the “the leader in book audience research and pre-publication book testing” (Codex Group, n.d.), released a study in 2011 which confirmed brick-and-mortar booksellers’ recent concerns “…that a growing number of customers come into their stores, browse the titles, and then buy a print book or an e-book online” (Millot 2011:5). However, this is not the only use of mobile communications technology in stores. Such use includes a multitude of activities such as list making, product and
8 information searches, social communication activities, and other purposes (Shankar et al.
2010).
The Adaptation of Publishing and Bookselling to Ecommerce and Electronic Books
An extensive review of the current ways in which publishing and bookselling industries affect brick-and-mortar booksellers was also considered in preparation for the research project and to better inform the analysis and recommendations of the study. The situation is in obvious flux and has caused independent booksellers to question their roles “…by becoming event destinations and offering other products such as records and antiques” (Burkey 2011:3). This is an attempt by physical bookstores “…to compete with an always ‘in-stock’ assortment at an online retailer” (Ollia 2011:16) by offering items and experiences which are not readily available online. Other research champions the idea of bookstores becoming more engaged with their communities and attempting to derive new revenue streams from these outreach activities
(Rosen 2012). Additionally, there is a growing body of literature from these contemporary sources recommending new approaches to customer service and incorporating technological advances , such as actively engaging in social media as a means of improving the in-store experience (Horner 2012) and utilizing the Espresso Book Machine which allows customers to print back list titles on-demand directly in-store (Rossen 2011:20).
HPB Publicity and News Releases
News reports and articles pertaining to the client were also studied. Perhaps the most enlightening article detailed the HPB’s recognition of declining sales in June of 2011 which spurred the computerization of the company’s inventory and a more competitive approach to online and bulk sales (Ferenbach 2012). In the article, HPB president and CEO, Sharon Anderson
9 Wright, explained the company’s shift in focus including more aggressive textbook buying and
selling and improving existing stores while expressing, “We (HPB) feel(s) that there are always
going to be people that like not only the physical book, but they like the physical bookstore”
(Ferenbach 2012:16). This literature also displays HPB and other booksellers attempting to find
their way in the changing environment as Kathy Doyle Thomas, Executive Vice President of HPB,
stated when speaking about the company’s partnership with internet bookseller, Monsoon’s
Alibris, “Like every bookseller we’re trying to figure out what our model is going to be. We don’t want to be naïve. We know people are downloading books online” (Rosen 2011). Other news
releases detailed the company’s continued commitment to literacy and environmental charity
work.
Anthropology and Consumer Research
Much has been written on the topic of consumer anthropology, notably Sherry (1995)
details the “parallel intellectual domains” of anthropology, marketing, and consumer research
while suggesting convergence is now occurring (Sherry 1995:10). Further, valid criticisms exist
concerning the qualitative methods traditionally employed by some market researchers such as
focus groups and store intercept interviews which may not always address the deeper issues in
a consumer environment without the extended encounter of an ethnography and the analysis
of an anthropologist (Sherry 1995). Wasson (2000) likewise is critical of focus groups because of
their reliance on self-reporting, but recommends store intercept interviews to augment video
recorded observations. Conversely, Sherry (1995) feels that both methods and other less formal
or suspect methods such as “site visits… eavesdropping, and voyeurism” are too flawed in their
accuracy (Sherry 1995:25).
10 Within this body of literature there are several examples of the cultural element being
blended with consumer actions. Studies featuring ethnicity and nationality in products like
coffee (Sunderland and Denny 2007) and generational relationships with brands (Olsen 1995)
demonstrate the vastness and diversity of the field by examining the confluence of cultural
influence and practices with product interaction. Two important concepts in this study,
customer segmentation and collecting behaviors are discussed in both the marketing and
anthropology literature. Costa (1995) recommends ethnicity as an indicator of customer
behavior beyond the “list of traits” associated with marketing segments (1995:234). Tian and
Belk (2005) explore items as an extension of self in the workplace which translates well to the concept of collecting and brand engagement. In this study products such as books and vinyl records become extensions of self. Recent research concerning information and communications technology (ICT) which blends design anthropology, technology, and user experience was also helpful in learning how diverse population use technology and how anthropologists approach these studies (Wasson and Squires 2011, Graffam 2010). Finally, this type of research and the role of the anthropologist was perhaps best described as “we bring consumers to life so their behavior shows coherence” (Denny 2002:158).
Ethnographic Research Concerning Bookstore Employees and Customers
Bryan C. Taylor (1999) studied the intertexuality of the organizational culture of the
Deseret Book Company in Salt Lake City, Utah and their local “host-culture” of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (1999:62). While an intriguing ethnography, there is no similar or singular “host-culture” which is applicable to HPB employees who instead represent several cultures overlapping simultaneously within a larger organizational culture (Baba 1995). HPB
11 employees come from diverse backgrounds unlike the predominantly Mormon staff of the
Deseret Book Company. Interestingly, Taylor identifies several instances of work as performance or theater similar to the research of Pine and Gilmore (1999), but in Taylor’s ethnography, church membership (although not required for employment) and the Deseret
Book Company are intertwined and “… are two cultures working as the same” (Taylor 1999:89).
K.D. Trager (2005) sought to understand in-store customer reading habits in the café of a Borders bookstore in Bloomington, Indiana by using a mix of observation and interviews with customers and employees. Trager is able to reconstruct the implications of the organizational restructuring in 2001 in which Borders lost many of its “bookish” employees and managers
(2005:222). The new entity’s actions greatly weakened employee morale and damaged
customer relations as recounted by interviews with employees and customers (Trager 2005).
Trager’s research shows how the customer and employee cultures interacted in a shared common space and adapted to change. Further, Trager asserts that prior to the restructuring
Borders (including both the bookstore and café components) was successful as a “third place” for relaxation and social interaction separated from the domestic sphere “first place” and work sphere “second place” (Oldenburg 1997:14). However, Trager does not consider the possibility of Borders café as a third place after the organizational restructuring nor does the article consider the deeper criteria for a justifying third places beyond a location that is neither home or the workplace. In fact, there are many examples of customer behavior in Trager’s article which conflict with the idea of third places in general based on the lack of interaction between the customers due to their focus on solitary reading habits. Essentially, the article documents
12 current reader behavior in the cafés in 2005 and describes the adaptation of the customers and
employees in reaction to the restructuring changes in 2001.
Audrey Laing and Jo Royle (2013) specifically focus on the idea of bookstores as a third place with a study involving interviews with employees from four separate bookstore chains as well as customer questionnaires in-person and online from three separate bookstore chains in the United Kingdom (Laing and Royle 2013:31). The criteria for third place are based on
Oldenberg and Brissett’s (1982) research which in turn emphasizes Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s
(1975) flow theory as being one of three elements that must be present to define a third place.
Flow is defined as when an individual immersed in an activity contently loses oneself in the moment without concern for time, physiological needs, or personal problems (Csikszentmihalyi
1975). A third place must meet all three of the following qualifications: (1) The “possibility for sociability” must exist (2) The existence of “flow” should be present and (3) “Conversation or communication takes place freely, democratically, and without censure” Oldenburg and Brissett
(1982:176). The data from Laing and Royle, demonstrates that the bookstore is too disjointed to be a third place because communication does not take place freely or without censure at the risk of interfering with readers and browsers. Rather, the bookstore is for those who are seeking solitary and restorative experiences (Laing and Royle 2013:39). Like Trager’s (2005) work, coffee shops or cafés within a bookstore promote the retail environment as a meeting place (Laing and Royle 2013:37), but the idea of a bookstore itself as a third place is problematic because people do not go to bookstores to meet friends for socializing (Oldenburg and Brissett
1982), but go to meet books in serendipitous browsing (Laing and Royale 2013).
13 Theoretical Orientation
Ecological Theory
Cultural Ecology, developed by Julian Steward (1955), is an effective theoretical
approach to examining the complex relationships between cultures and their environment. It is
most useful when placed within the construct of organizational culture which can be studied
(Jordan 1989) not as the existence a monolithic, singular culture represented by an
organization, but rather as intertwined and nested diverse multiple cultures based on
occupational, individual, and ethnic orientations co-existing, co-creating, and adapting to the
larger culture (Baba 1995, Jordan 1989, 2013). Adaptation is a key component to ecological theory because the “population responds or adjusts to changing environmental conditions
(including changes introduced by other sociocultural systems) in a way that enables the population to maintain or enhance those relations with the environment that are requisite to the populations continued existence or well-being” (Baba 1995:209). In this study, HPB is adapting to the environmental shift caused by online shopping and the digitization of media by implementing new proprietary technologies and delivery services to offset the effects of competition from downloads and internet retailers. This experience is processional and ongoing
(Baba 1995) as market forces, technology, and customer trends will continue to change and
require further adaptation by HPB.
Baba (1995) also discusses adaptive relationships which can take the form of
“symbiotic” relationship by the members of the population or a “commensalistic” relationship
where connected populations join together in “a horizontal manner” (1995:209). In this study,
each store research site maintains a symbiotic relationship in relation to their local adaptive
14 challenges while the two research sites together join the other 114 store populations and
corporate departments in a larger organizational adaptation. Further, the boundaries of where a culture stops and an environment starts can be difficult to determine unless one considers the two as part interdependent and integral system (Baba 1995:211).
In terms of this study, this approach is applicable in both key areas of people and place.
First, the employees of HPB are not a singular homogenous culture, but rather a network of
individuals with varying roles, responsibilities, and past experiences. These individuals are not
so demographically similar despite engaging in very similar job duties. Here, prior experience is
critical and is often an indicator of the unintended formal and informal roles one will assume
with the company or gravitate toward. For instance, a Bookseller I who happens to be a comic
book aficionado is eventually propelled into working the comic section due to her subject
expertise. Conversely, a Bookseller II may be a grandfather and more likely to relate better to
young children in story time events.
Lastly, HPB customers of are also viewable with an ecological lens, but in a different
sense. The customers simultaneously belong to a multitude of cultures both commercial and
otherwise that share basic beliefs about the employees and environment of HPB. Like the
employees, they are adapting to market and changes to company policy, but ideally have more
agency and lower risks in these times of change. In consideration of this, HPB’s customers can
better be described by market segmentation based on behaviors and preferences.
Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is an important field within marketing and customer behavior
which is the means of identifying “a portion of a larger market whose needs differ somewhat
15 from the larger market” (Hawkins and Mothersbaugh 2010:16). Customer behavior is “the
study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use,
and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts of that
these processes have on the consumer and society” (Hawkins and Motherbaugh 2010:6).
Market segmentation as a complete process is comprised of three parts: segmenting by
determining the customers’ different needs, targeting attractive segments to focus the firm’s marketing efforts, and positioning the product or brand in the consumers’ mind relative to the firm’s competition (Dibb and Simkins 2001). In this study, I explored the first part of the process qualitatively and the client will decide whether or not to pursue further research with larger samples for future targeting and positioning strategies. Traditionally, firms have relied on quantitative measures of lifestyle or psychographics, which evaluate consumers on their attitudes, values, activities and interests, demographics, media patterns, and usage rates
(Hawkins and Motherbaugh 2010:435-436), but more qualitative methods are desirable in some cases.
The exploration of trends which could lead to potential market segments is important to this study because I do not look at HPB’s customer base as a homogenous grouping of people who merely desire discounted books and media. Further, actual market segments cannot be constructed without further research in this area with a larger customer sample. Moreover, a deeper investigation of the reasoning behind their patronage of HPB accompanies a documentation of customer behavior and preferences. In this portion of the research, very basic demographics are included, but never become the focus or criteria of the trending or potential market segments (Yankelovich and Meer 2006). With these concepts, I identified
16 three potential market segments of a) bargain browsers who are thrifty and loyal brick-and- mortar shoppers b) connected collectors who use the internet to appraise and research items for their multiple collections of physical items and c) multi-format selectors who are non- collectors, but eReader users who purchase physical and digital media at different times for different reasons. Additionally, two additional potential segments of d) required readers who are only shopping at HPB because they need a particular reading list title or textbook and e) resellers who scan barcodes to buy and re-sell HPB merchandise at a profit also are represented in this research. A detailed description and analysis of these potential segments and customer behaviors follows in chapter 4.
Half Price Books: Company Overview and Description of the Research Sites
Half Price Books: History and Adaptive Strategies
Half Price Books was founded in 1972 in Dallas, Texas by Ken Gjemre and Pat Anderson in a converted laundromat with about 2,000 books from their own collections, according to the company’s website. In addition to selling used books, HPB functions as a wholesaler of unsold publishers’ remainder copies and as printer of journals, greeting cards, and bookmarks all under another subsidiary, The Texas Bookman. Today at the corporate level, the company is adapting to recent changes in the publishing and retailing industry in several ways. Having closed its permanent donations warehouse in favor of only donating children’s books through their individual stores, unsold merchandise from the stores is now sent to a recently opened HPB
Outlet store in Bloomington, Indiana or sold in bulk by the company to independent online booksellers. The highest quality used textbooks and rare merchandise is sold online though various websites through a subsidiary, Booksmarter. The company has acquired a shopping
17 center to redevelop across the street from its current flagship store and corporate office and is
redeveloping it as a real estate investment trust (Halkalis 2013). The company “…plans to lease
the storefronts in this shopping center ‘…to tenants our customers will like’ according to
executive vice president, Kathy Doyle Thomas” (Halkais 2013).
With HPB recently becoming shrewder in regard to inventory deposition and real estate
planning, the company has donated several million books over the years to establish children’s libraries in schools and hospitals and plans to continue to do so by encouraging customer donations and donations from HPB’s stores as part of the Half Pint Library Book Drive. In
addition to these efforts, the company still supports literacy campaigns both in-store and
online. HPB also continues to celebrate the selling of banned books with its annual Delete
Censorship campaign. HPB is also a very environmentally conscious company and has been
recycling unsalable merchandise for years which eventually led to the B(eco)me Green
campaign and website becomegreen.info which offers visitors tips for greener living.
Additionally, the company further promotes recycling by offering reusable shopping bags for
sale, some of which are made from recycled plastic water bottles.
18
FIGURE 1. The North Arlington research site.
The North Arlington Research Site
The N. Arlington store, #60, opened in the former Taylor’s Bookstore in the Lincoln
Square shopping center in the mid-1990s. The store maintains its original retail sales floor footprint; an attached space once housed the Tarrant County district warehouse and offices for the district manager and other staff. The company still owns this attached space accessible from the store itself, but it goes largely unused. The store is situated in Arlington’s entertainment district near the stadiums for the professional sports teams, the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys as well as other local tourist attractions like the amusement park Six
Flags over Texas, water park Hurricane Harbor, and the Arlington Convention Center.
The N. Arlington store features a community room which doubles as the location’s
Nostalgia or collectible books section and contains three small café-size reading tables. Another table is situated just outside of the community room near the discounted Super Buys section, and a larger kitchen-size reading table is located near the American history section.
19
FIGURE 2. The South Arlington research site.
The South Arlington Research Site
The S. Arlington store, #18, has been at the location of the southeast corner of Cooper
Street and Pioneer Parkway in central Arlington since the early 1980s. Since its opening, Store
#18 has been expanded twice, once in the early 1990s and again in the year 2000. The store has undergone two separate remodeling processes with small alterations in 2008 and a larger remodel in 2011. Increased instances of crime in the area have led both the landlord of the shopping center and Half Price Books to pay off-duty uniformed police officers to act as security guards to deter shoplifting and robberies. The police officers also issue criminal trespass tickets to panhandlers in the parking lot who are considered to be disturbing the patrons of the shopping center. The S. Cooper location has only one café-size table and a small children’s table that is usually stored in the backroom in order to prevent restricting walking space in the area.
20 The Store Environment
HPB bookstores are unique visually and structurally from their competitors. The arrangement of shelves is unlike a library or a traditional bookstore because there is a reliance
on alcoves along the exterior walls with a more common grid-like arrangement of fixtures in the
center. The shelves are for the most part higher than what one would observe in a store like
Barnes & Noble and the store’s volume of used inventory cannot normally accommodate “face-
out” book displays of multiple new copies. The stores have display tables and end-caps at the
ends of the alcoves and at the ends of shelves in the center. The layout and shapes between the
two stores also differs greatly. The N. Arlington location is essentially a large rectangle while the
S. Arlington location is smaller than N. Arlington and shaped more like a lowercase letter “b.”
Both stores have similar sections, but these are located in vastly different parts of each store to
accommodate the size and shape of the locations. A previous HPB marketing message of
“Different Stores, Different Stories” is especially applicable in this sense, as standardization of
store layouts seems to be unachievable because of natural physical limitations.
Both stores are composed entirely of the company’s signature handcrafted wood
shelving and fixtures all designed and constructed by HPB’s Woodshoppe. Temporary self- adhesive long strip decals adorn some prominent shelf edges to promote marketing campaigns such as the Half Pint Library donation drive and Mother’s Day promotions at different times during the project. The company also attempts to communicate with its customers using a series of parallel hanging shelf talkers (clear plastic and metal clips) which display marketing messages from the corporate office as well as in-store instructions. The presence of shelf
talkers is especially curious considering many of them contain QR codes which are small square
21 codes that can be scanned by a customer’s smartphone to take them to a page on the
company’s website (QRcode.com, n.d.). During the course of the observation, the researcher
identified and photographed shelf talkers with a variety of content.
FIGURE 3. A Half Pint Library donations shelf talker featuring B.W. the Bookworm.
It is important to note the researcher did not observe any interaction between customers and the shelf talkers at either store. This could be attributed to several variables such as placement, message, and the parallel to the shelf design. Traditionally, shelf talkers are perpendicular to the shelf have been used in retail environments to call attention to a specific product and its location on a shelf.
22 CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
Semi- Structured •Customers Interviews •Employees
Store Intercept Interviews Observation
•Customer Observation •Section Counts •Participant Observation
FIGURE 4. Methodological components.
I used three major methods for this study: (1) observation, (2) store intercept
interviews, and (3) semi-structured interviews. The majority of the methods would likely fit in
the discovery research platform given the exploratory nature of the study (Squires 2002). These methods were also chosen in hopes of triangulating the data from one method to the next.
Observation
This method included three different types of observation: (1) customer observation, (2)
section density counts of customer traffic, and (3) employee observation with HPB employees.
All of the observation types were critical in developing a holistic picture of the activities of both
stores. In Figure 4 above, observation is represented as a large gear which in fact, drove the
fieldwork and led identifying potential store intercept interviews and employee interviews and
23 became a continuous research activity. The other gears interlocked with one another which
made for a deeper exploration of various phenomenon. I also had the opportunity to integrate observations and follow-up statements from the interviewees to triangulate the customers’ and employees’ experiences and preferences which emerged in the interviews. Further, some employees who were interviewed later approached me during observation to add additional
information to their interviews or relate new experiences they felt were relevant to the goals of
the project.
Customer Observation
I observed customer behavior and employee-customer interactions for a total of sixty
hours at both locations combined. Observation took place at various times and days from the
period of March 1, 2013 to May 31, 2013. The staff of both stores recommended that the best
times to observe customers would not include the hours immediately following the opening of
the store in the morning or just prior to closings the store in the evening when customer traffic
is at its lowest level. This was confirmed by my experiences in the field early in the project
work. Special attention was also paid to observation of in-store events, sales, and promotions.
Employee Observation
Participant observation with the employees was less formal and more sporadic due to
the demands of the work day. The phone “search-a-longs” initially planned in the project’s
proposal phase proved to be unfeasible due to the unpredictable volume of phone calls at any
given time. A period of 45 minutes might pass without a single phone call and at other times
three phone calls might occur simultaneously. To avoid the lulls and burdening employees
24 handling multiple calls, participant observation in this respect shifted to observed customer-
employee interactions in-store when the opportunity presented itself.
Section Density Counts
Additionally, the number of customers shopping in various sections was logged as section density counts similar to the concept of “store density checks” (Underhill 1999). This information was collected 23 times at each store and was added to the research design in an effort to provide the client information the company has not yet been able to collect. The data presented in Chapter 4 details the most and least trafficked of the total 26 sections at various dates and times for a total of 932 customers at the N. Arlington store and at the S. Arlington store combined. The reasoning behind the collection of this data is to provide the company with a secondary source of information beyond sales figures to use in deciding to expand or reduce the size of sections. For example, if Section X has low sales and a low numbers of observed and counted shoppers, it may be prudent to reduce the section in favor of expanding
Section Y which is highly trafficked with higher sales to better accommodate the section’s customers.
Store Intercept Interviews
The second methodological gear of the model is represented by the store intercept interviews. I conducted 10 store intercept interviews out of 13 attempted at different times of the day between the two stores during the observation period. These customers were targeted because of observed interactions with mobile technology in the stores and were approached just following the interaction for a short interview after I introduced myself. The store intercepts were intentionally designed to be short and unobtrusive as to not interfere with the
25 customer’s shopping experience any more than necessary. These interviews were not audio or video recorded, but short enough they could immediately be recorded afterward by hand in my notebook. Store intercept interviews were included in an effort to triangulate the information from the other sources of data collection and gain more insight to the habits of the customers concerning technology use.
Semi-Structured Interviews
The third and final gear of the model is Semi-Structured Interviews and is composed of interviews with the customers and employees. An additional type of short-form employee interview arouse during the research and are included in the data. These interviews are called
“pop-up” interviews and are explained in greater detail following the section entitled
“Employee Interviews”.
Customer Interviews
I sought to randomly select ten customers, five from each store to control for selection bias and to ensure a truly representative sample of the customer base for both stores. A decidedly simple, low cost, and effective means of recruiting customer volunteers based on a drawing and using a random number generator was designed for the project proposal and executed in late March. Each store received about a hundred flyers (see Appendix C) which were placed at the cash registers, the coffee counters, and on the bulletin boards accompanied by a couple hundred volunteer information forms (see Appendix D) which were both printed on mint green paper to be more eye-catching. The flyer was based on the UNT IRB consent form that each entry would have had the opportunity to read and sign if selected for an interview.
26 This made for a regrettably wordy document which would have likely been far less successful as a flyer anywhere other than a bookstore.
The flyers and volunteer forms were available for the span of two weeks from March 18-
31, 2013. These volunteer forms were completed by the customers who wished to participate and then were dropped in a sealed plastic jar below the cash register to ensure privacy. The forms required a name, phone number and optional email address for contact. The customers of the N. Arlington store submitted nineteen volunteer forms of the desired five and the S.
Arlington store yielded twenty-one submissions for a total of forty submissions. The employees of the S. Arlington store especially seemed rather pleased with the response of the customers who turned in forms because they applauded the employees and the company while turning in their forms for “being caring”, “so cool”, and “innovative” for offering the customers a chance to provide feedback to HPB.
After the jars were collected, I numbered each form from each jar. Participants were then selected using a random number generator online at random.org. The customer interviews were anticipated to be an hour to an hour and a half in duration, but were usually forty-five minutes to an hour in length. The customers coordinated with me for an acceptable time and location for their interviews which was usually the community room of the N.
Arlington store or at a nearby coffee shop. These interviews were invaluable in determining the preferences and habits of the customers. Each customer-participant was compensated for their time with a $20 HPB gift card, equally contributed by the N. Arlington and S. Arlington stores under the direction of the project’s sponsor.
27 The numbering and random selection of entries with a surplus of thirty-one volunteers made it relatively easy for me to randomly select alternates when a customer’s phone number was not working or no return call or email was received within seventy-two hours of the initial contact attempt. The end sample featured five men and five women from the two stores ranging in age from thirty years to sixty-five years of age. The sample was also ethnically and economically diverse ranging from a returning student to professionals to retirees. More data on the interviewees is located in Chapter 4.
Employee Interviews
Initially, I wanted to interview employees based primarily on position and tenure to look for patterns in their responses and attitudes. Quickly after the first few employee interviews, I saw remarkable similarities in the strategies and refocused on employees with different backgrounds in similar employment situations. This provided a more varied population which included HPB employees who once worked for past and present competitors of HPB, or in similar settings including public libraries. This gave a wider insight to the challenges at other companies, which the interviewees brought up without prompting in order to relate past challenges with technology which they could also now see at HPB. The employee sample was planned to be comprised of 10 employees, but in the end consisted of 8 employees, 5 men and
3 women, between the two stores with varying positions, years of service, and related pre-HPB experience. More data and demographic information concerning the employee interview sample follows in Chapter 4.
In addition, several employees volunteered information about their own observations and recent technology-related customer service stories when I was observing customer
28 behavior. These “pop-up” interviews were certainly welcome and led to short conversations about phone calls from customers and observed mobile applications, as well as more complex talks including a demonstration of a new driver’s license scanner required by the City of
Arlington’s Police Department for customers selling used electronics like videogame systems.
These impromptu interviews assisted my understanding of the changing nature of the research sites.
Data Analysis
The customer observation field notes were coded in the qualitative analysis program
Atlas.ti. This was especially helpful in establishing basic demographics of gender and age group of the customers for an overall picture. Next, the observed device usage and basic demographics were compared from the query reports and code co-occurrence tables to better analyze which customers were engaged in which behaviors. This data was helpful in determining the customers’ frequency of technology-related activities along with device type.
The customer store intercept interviews and employee participant observation “pop-up” interviews and were decidedly smaller in quantity and the comments were hand coded. Section
Counts were logged in a excel spreadsheet for easy viewing of basic customer traffic information for date, time, and the number of customers in a given area of the store. The store intercept interviews were hand coded with special attention devoted to the behavior and explanation questions.
The semi-structured customer and employee interviews were tape recorded and transcribed before being coded with Atlas.ti. I coded this portion of the data by constructing a codebook for topic coding after reading the transcriptions three times. The more complex and
29 varied sections were then later “’analytically coded’ considering the meanings in context, and
creating categories that expressed new ideas about the data” (Richards 2005:94). In order to
further understand the nuances in the customers’ behaviors and perceptions within the broader categories. For example, what may have been simply coded as “treasure hunting” in the initial topic coding of the customer interviews was further analyzed to tease out important details regarding the concepts of waiting, preferences for cash transactions versus credit card usage in-store or online, and the importance and purpose of storytelling as a part of regular shopping experiences.
30 CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND FINDINGS
In this section I address the research topics of (1) Customer behaviors and potential segmentation (2) Employees’ strategies used to assist customers to find merchandise, and (3)
Customer and employee perceptions about in-store events and promotions. Prior to this, is a
description of the data gathered which begins with my observations of customer behavior in
the two research sites. The observation-based data includes basic demographics, mobile device
use in HPB, types of devices, list handling behaviors, and section density counts. Next, semi-
structured interview data and findings follow for both the customer behavior and employee
search strategies components of the project. Finally, data and findings concerning store events
and promotions is presented at the close of the chapter.
Discussion of Customer Behavior Observed In-Store
In-store Customer Behaviors, Technology Use, Observed Devices, and List Handling
In total, I observed 271 people, 110 men and 161 women, using some form of
technology in the stores during the 60 hours of observation at various times from March 1,
2013 to May 31, 2013. These observations can be divided into two mutually exclusive
categories of merchandise related users and non-merchandise related users based on their
observed activities. Merchandise related users are the customers who were observed to be
actively using mobile devices in relation to the products and displays in the stores such as referencing their smartphone’s screen while looking at books on the shelves. Non-merchandise related users are the customers who did not use mobile devices in direct relation to the store environment such as texting or checking Facebook away from the products and displays.
31 Further, an estimation of the user’s age and perceived gender accompanies this data to better describe the individuals associated with technology use. The constructed age categories, based on my estimation of the individuals ages are as follows: child: 12 years old and younger, teen:
13-17 years, young: 18-34 years, middle: 35-59 years, and older: 60 years and older. The age group with the highest instance of technology use was middle: 35-59 years with 117 users, followed by 95 users from age group Young: 18-34 years. The rest of the age groups are represented as older: 60 years and older with 36 users, teen: 13-17 years with 17 users, and child: infancy to age 12 with just 6 users. Women used technology more in-store than men and this trend repeated itself through the age categories, excluding the child group which was equally comprised of 3 girls and 3 boys. The following figure displays the perceived age and gender for merchandise related users and non-merchandise related users.
70 66
60 55 51 50 Child (Age 12 and under) 40 40 Teen (13-17 years old) Young (18-34 years old) 30 Middle (35-59 years old) 22 20 Older (60 years +) 14 15 10 3 2 3 0 Men Women
FIGURE 5. Merchandise related users and non-merchandise related users, N=271.
32 Merchandise Related Users
Customer behavior in this part of the project was primarily focused on the customers’ use of technology while in the store. Of the 271 individuals observed, only 95, or 35% of them used mobile technology in direct relation to their shopping experience. For example, a customer referencing a list on their smartphone while looking at the shelves is in direct relation to their shopping experience. Conversely, a customer texting or playing a video game without interacting the products or displays is not related to their shopping experience. Customers were observed using phones in several ways in-store:
• Overheard voice calls about acceptable gifts for a third person, confirm the title or
author of a needed book, or check the shopper’s shelves at home to avoid purchasing a
duplicate copy.
Non-voice related usage included:
• Electronic lists were used in various mobile note taking applications.
• Refer to a picture of a book’s cover from Amazon.com or customer’s photograph.
• Amazon used to reference subject classification or author identification.
• Limited barcode scanning for price or edition comparison.
Non-Merchandise Related Users
The remaining 65% of the customers used technology in-store in several ways which were not related to the store environment. These uses were for primarily for communication and entertainment purposes including:
• Making and taking personal phone calls which did not include references to HPB or
merchandise as overheard by the researcher.
33 • Sending and receiving text messages.
• Browsing Facebook new feeds and messaging.
• Playing videogames on a smartphone or portable videogame system.
• Listening to audio with headphones with an mp3 player or smartphone.
Observed Devices
I classified the devices observed in-store as follows: 1.) smartphones which includes
Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone handsets, no Windows phones were observed at either
location. 2.) non-smartphones without internet capabilities. 3.) iPad, no other tablet
computers were observed being used by the customers. And 4.) miscellaneous other
devices which include mp3 music players (predominantly iPods), handheld videogame
systems used by teens and children, laptop computers, and less advanced devices. Less
advanced devices include a portable CD player used to preview CDs in the music section and
a small battery-powered turntable used in the same fashion in the vinyl records section.
This information is found in Table 1.
Table 1. Observed devices Observed devices Type Number Percentage Smartphone 242 89.2 Non-smartphone 19 7 iPad 5 1.9 Miscellaneous 5 1.9 Total 271 100
List Handling by Customers
Frequently, customers would refer to lists while shopping as 47 instances of list handling were observed. The Mystery section accounted for the highest number of list usage at 15
34 unique instances between the two stores. The lists of HPB customers were varied in size and
style, some were in binders or notebooks, either handwritten or computer printed. A table of the types of lists observed and the store section of the observation follows. The term “4-fold”
applies to a full sheet of paper folded into 4 equal quarters. The “other” section category refers to sections such as Reference, CDs, DVDs, and others. Table 2 displays customer list handling.
Table 2. List handling by customers List handling by customers Type Section Fiction Mystery Romance Westerns Other Total 4-fold 2 5 2 2 2 13 Electronic 5 5 5 - 5 20 Binder - - - - 2 2 Small notebook - 2 - - 1 3 Small/scratch 1 3 2 - 3 9 Total 8 15 9 2 13 47
Section Density Counts
On 46 occasions (23 at each store), I counted the number of customers in the store by
their positions in an identified 26 sections and counted 419 customers at the N. Arlington store
and 513 at the S. Arlington store for a total of 932 customers from March 1, 2013 to April 20,
2013. This data was auto summed for both the section and the date and time of the counts. The
busiest or highest volume counting occasion for the N. Arlington store was Sunday, March 17,
2013 at 3:30 PM with 54 customers in the location during a 50% off coupon mailer sale. The
busiest or highest volume counting occasion for the S. Arlington store was also during the 50%
off coupon mailer sale on Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 2:30 PM with 70 customers. The lowest
volume counting occasion for the N. Arlington store was Friday, April 5, 2013 at 11:30 AM with
7 customers. The lowest volume counting occasion for the S. Arlington store was Friday, March
35 1, 2013 at 11:30 AM with 9 customers. The complete report of section count results was
included in the client report, but I chose to include the top five and lowest five sections for comparison here. Tables 3 and 4 display the highest occupied sections at each research site.
Table 3. The top 5 occupied sections for N. Arlington The top 5 occupied sections for N. Arlington Section Number of Customers Media (LPs, CDs, DVDs, etc.) 63 Community Room 45 Clearance 44 Children’s 22 Home Arts (home, gardening, crafting, etc.) 21
Table 4. The top 5 occupied sections for S. Arlington The Top 5 Occupied Sections for S. Arlington Section Number of Customers Media (LPs, CDs, DVDs, etc.) 99 Fiction/Literature 27 Religion 26 Young Adult Fiction 24 Children’s 22
Both stores have Media as their busiest section and an equal amount of traffic in the Children’s
section. N. Arlington’s community room is very busy to which there is no equivalent at the S.
Arlington location. Also N. Arlington’s Clearance section is a close second outpacing the
remaining top occupied sections for S. Arlington. Tables 5 and 6 display the least occupied
sections at each research site.
36 Table 5. The bottom 5 occupied sections for N. Arlington The Bottom 5 Occupied Sections for N. Arlington Section Number of Customers Collecting 0 Foreign Language 0 Sociology 0 Magazines 1 Reference 1
Table 6. The bottom 5 occupied sections for S. Arlington The Bottom 5 Occupied Sections for S. Arlington Section Number of Customers Collecting 3 World History 3 Super Buys 3 Political Science/Law/Business 3 Health 4
The Collecting section was the lowest at both stores and is not to be confused with the
collectible books section, or Nostalgia section. The Collecting section contains price guides for antiques, comic books, coins, and other collecting related books. The section counts show both
the similarities and difference between the two stores. Some of the differences can be
explained by store layout which is important for the client to explore for all of these numbers.
The Super Buys section at the N. Arlington store is much larger and centrally located than of the
S. Arlington store. The higher trafficked store, S. Arlington had no zero counts in any of the sections which differed from N. Arlington’s three zero counts and two one counts.
In-Store Intercept Interviewee Volunteers
This method is an augmentation to observation by adding a small number of interview questions directed at a specific instance of activity. However, while informative there is not
37 enough time to build rapport with the interviewee or probe sufficiently to explore the activities and shopping preferences. It is important to note compensation was unavailable for the researcher to dispense for these interviews. Out of 13 attempted in-store intercepts, 10 customers complied and yielded a variety of information concerning device use in-store. The internet was commonly used as a reference tool concerning book details basically to make information sought earlier from Amazon.com or a class syllabus portable for the shopping trip.
Additionally, the internet was used as a clarification tool to double check book order in a series or to confirm an author’s name.
Interestingly, customers would also photograph an item to send a picture to another person in a text message or an email to see if the customer should buy it for them. One customer used a photograph from Wikipedia in an attempt to clearly communicate to an employee the difference between two musicians with similar names while another customer photographed the ISBN number and barcode on the back of a textbook to look for the accompanying workbook, later online at home. One store intercept interviewee used the note application on her smartphone to record book recommendations from friends. Customers would often add additional information about their preferences for shopping in-store to inspect the products, their enjoyment of browsing at HPB, and to avoid the shipping costs of online shopping during the course of these short interviews.
38 Technology Use in Store Intercept Interviews
Internet search for 1 2 clarification in-store 2 Reference tool from pre-store search 5 Photographing
FIGURE 6. Technology use in store intercept interviews, N=10.
Findings: Customer Behavior Observed In-store
Finding: Women were observed to use mobile devices more than men at the two research sites.
Finding: The majority of technology use was not related to the customers’ shopping experience.
Customers used technology in a myriad of ways, for example texting and playing video games.
Finding: Smartphones were the most prevalent mobile device in-store, representing 89.2% of all devices.
Finding: Customers used lists, especially electronic lists, in a variety of the stores’ section, but predominantly the Mystery section.
Finding: The section density counts displayed that each store’s Media sections were highly trafficked while both stores’ Collecting sections were the lowest trafficked areas.
Finding: The store intercept interviews demonstrated that half of the customers interviewed in this manner used their smartphones as reference tools in-store to bring product information from the internet into the store for their shopping trips.
39 Discussion of Customer Behavior Interview Data
General Customer In-depth Interviewee Demographics
My random sample yielded the following ten customers who happened to be equally male and female out of the forty initial volunteer submissions collected from both stores. Table
7 displays this information.
Table 7. General customer sample demographics General customer sample demographics Customer number Age Gender 1 58 Female 2 31 Male 3 31 Male 4 61 Female 5 30 Male 6 32 Male 7 65 Male 8 57 Female 9 35 Female 10 31 Female
Customer Behaviors, Categories and Potential Segmentation
Describing the 6 Categories of HPB Customer Behavior
First, it is important to note that much of the following data and potential market segments are largely derived from this random sample of only ten customers because of the richness of the in-depth interview data. I identified a total of five groups of customers who demonstrated trending behaviors which could lead to potential market segments of HPB customers during the course of the research project. Three of these potential segments emerged from the data gathered in the in-depth interviews and were classified into distinct groups based on an indentified 35 customer behaviors spread through the following 6
40 categories: technology ownership and experience, Amazon usage, Barnes & Noble patronage,
Half Price Books patronage, item acquisition, deposition, and storytelling, and
recommendation sources. I used the category sums from the data in the interviews to show the interviewees level of participation in each category. The customers were able to be listed in a
large table were derived from participation in the categories. The behaviors were given and
alphabetical reference code, herein called an “alpha code” for easier reference. The data in the
table was further used to calculate an “engagement sum” which consists of the number of
affirmative (yes) answers divided by the total number of customer behaviors. This helped to
better define group membership which was then compared to the age and gender of the
interviewees. This data was used to establish the potential marketing segments of bargain
browsers, connected collectors, and multi-format selectors from the data in-depth customer
interviews. The data from the employee interviews; observation, and store intercept interviews
helped form the other potential orientations of required readers and resellers in addition to the
preceding three potential segments.
Category 1: Technology Ownership and Experience (A-D)
Table 8. Category 1: technology ownership and experience (A-D) Category 1: technology ownership and experience (A-D) Customer number Alpha Code Behavior 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # A Owns a smartphone N Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y 7 B Smartphone use at HPB N N Y N Y N Y N Y Y 5 C eReader ownership N Y N N N N N Y N Y 3 D eReader non-owner experiences N - N N Y Y Y - Y - 4 Category Sub Total 0 2 2 1 3 2 2 1 3 3
41 This category deals with the interviewee’s ownership of mobile technology devices and
eReaders and experience with the two types of technology. Seven of the interviewees owned
smartphones and five used them in HPB stores. Some of the interviewees reported they
preferred not to use their smartphones in-store because of the small screen or because they
already knew what they are looking for. None of the interviewees in the sample owned a tablet
computer such as an iPad.
The topic of eReaders is also part of this technology category; representing ownership by three individuals of the total sample, but four of the non-owning customers had tried reading on a friend or family member’s eReader at least once. Of the three customers who owned an eReader, all were Amazon Kindle devices. Information regarding Amazon’s Kindle included:
• Reading e-books on other devices such as a smartphone or a laptop computer.
• Received the device as a gift from a family member in most cases.
• Like the ability to shop directly from the device and store several titles.
The non-owners of eReaders reported that they had tried reading on an eReader, but did not
like the experience for the following reasons including:
• The screen hurt their eyes for three of the four non-owners.
• The tactile sensations of holding a book and turning its pages were missing.
42 Category 2: Amazon Usage (E-G)
Table 9. Category 2: Amazon Usage (E-G) Category 2: Amazon Usage (E-G) Customer number Alpha Code Behavior 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # E Amazon shopping N Y N Y Y Y N Y Y Y 7 F Amazon information N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 9 G Amazon reviews N Y N Y N N N Y Y Y 5 Category Sub Total 0 3 1 3 2 2 1 3 3 3
I examined the reasons the customers used Amazon.com, identifying the following three
reasons: shopping, information, and reviews. From the interview data, seven of the customers
shop at Amazon.com with the above three Kindle owners buying both e-books and physical books from the retailer. None of the customers admitted using Amazon as a price comparison tool in HPB stores. Reports of Amazon usage included:
• A source for release date information and book series order.
• Reviews are more important when the customer is unfamiliar with the author or artist.
• Overly-positive or overly-negative reviews are ignored, but are read more for
entertainment.
Category 3: Barnes & Noble Patronage (H-K)
Table 10. Category 3: Barnes & Noble patronage (H-K) Category 3: Barnes & Noble patronage (H-K) Customer number Alpha Code Behavior 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # H B&N occasionally N N N Y N Y Y N Y Y 5 I B&N online (BN.com) N N N N N N Y N N N 1 J B&N last resort N N N Y N Y Y N Y Y 5 K B&N new releases N N N Y N Y N N N Y 3 Category Sub Total 0 0 0 3 0 3 3 0 2 3
43 It is important to note that no questions were specifically asked about Barnes & Noble, yet a wealth of information emerged from the interview data and was closely scrutinized in the later in vivo coding period. Overall, there are five non-Barnes & Noble (B&N) customers in this sample. Of the four dimensions contained within this category, no one was a “full B&N” customer who qualified for all four dimensions. However, five of the customers (customers: #4,
#6, #7, #9, and #10) in the sample said they occasionally shopped at B&N with all five of the same customers denoting that it was as at times, a “last resort” when a cheaper or used copy of an item could not be located. Patronage and feelings about Barnes & Noble in contrast to HPB included:
• Patronized to avoid the shipping time and costs associated with Amazon.
• The store atmosphere is “stuffy and lacks character” while HPB is “cozy and
comfortable”.
• The employees are not as casual or knowledgeable as HPB’s employees.
• The Arlington location in the Parks Mall is negatively associated with traffic and crowds.
Category 4: Half Price Books Patronage (L-Q)
Table 11. Category 4: Half Price Books patronage (L-Q) Category 4: Half Price Books patronage (L-Q) Customer number Alpha Code Behavior 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # L HPB is primary bookstore Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y 9 M HPB is for browsing Y Y Y Y Y N N N Y N 5 N HPB is for gifts Y N Y N Y N N Y N Y 5 O HPB shopping weekly or more N Y N N N Y Y N N Y 4 P HPB shopping multiple stores (primarily Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 9 the 2 Arlington stores) Q HPB shopping multiple stores (outside of Y N Y N N N Y Y Y Y 6 Arlington and/or out-of-market) Category Sub Total 5 3 5 2 4 3 4 4 4 5
44 Much like the dimensions in the Barnes & Noble category, the following were not asked specifically but emerged from volunteered information. These dimensions give significant insights to behaviors related to the perceptions and behaviors of the customers in the sample.
As with the B&N data, there is no perfect score of someone being active in all of the related dimensions of the category. HPB patronage included:
• Returning to the same HPB, visiting, and calling other HPB stores for items.
• Visiting more than one HPB in a single day.
• Other HPB stores frequently visited include locations in Burleson, Dallas, Fort Worth,
Mesquite, and Rockwall.
• Of the four customers who shop at HPB weekly or more, it is part of their weekly
routines.
The customers took the opportunity to express what they liked and disliked about each location in Arlington in a similar way to the side-by-side comparisons between HPB and B&N which included:
• Each store’s close proximity to the University of Texas at Arlington was mentioned as
dictating the exceptional quality of used merchandise.
• N. Arlington has a “better layout”, but S. Arlington is more centrally located.
• Five of the customers have visited the flagship HPB, store #01, but feel it is too big and
the store’s selection was unimpressive.
45 Category 5: Item Acquisition, Deposition, and Storytelling (R-AB)
Table 12. Category 5: item acquisition, deposition, and storytelling (R-AB) Category 5: item acquisition, deposition, and storytelling (R-AB) Customer number Alpha Code Behavior 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # R Collecting facilitated by HPB N N Y Y Y Y N N Y N 5 S Collecting facilitated by other resale N N Y N Y Y N N Y N 4 shops (thrifts, Entertainmart, etc.) T Collecting facilitated by online sources N N Y Y Y Y N N Y N 5 U Collecting cross-format (i.e. Harry Potter N N Y Y N Y N N N Y 4 books, audio books, DVDs, etc.) V Storytelling – item acquisition Y N Y Y N Y N Y Y N 6 W Storytelling – bargain finding Y N Y Y N N Y Y Y N 6 X Waiting ≈ earning the item, bargain, and Y N Y N Y Y N N Y N 5 the accompanying story Y Thrift stores and related resale stores for Y N Y N N Y N N Y N 4 bargains (Movie Exchange, etc.) Z Buying multiple copies – replacement, N N Y Y N N N N N Y 3 redistribution, repurposing AA Merchandise used as decorations N N Y Y Y Y Y N N N 5 AB Public library use N N N N N N Y N N Y 2 Category Sub Total 4 0 10 7 5 8 3 2 7 3
This category is primarily concerned with how, when, where, and why customers choose to acquire items and how items are deposited after purchase. Storytelling is also included in this
category as the act provides additional information concerning how items are routinely acquired and what happens to these items in deposition such as adding new items to existing
collections, purchasing additional copies for various reasons, and using items as decorations.
The customers in this study collect to complete book series, build elaborate in-home libraries in
addition to collecting vinyl records, rare B-movies, all things related to Stephanie Meyers’s
Twilight series, action figures, comic books, and collectible books. Other preferences and
behaviors included:
• Prefer buying physical products in-store.
• Visual inspection of items is better than online descriptions.
46 • Cross-format collecting based on film and book franchises.
Storytelling functions in three ways among the customers in the sample. First, it is a
means of remembering the “quest” for the acquisition of items among six customers in the
sample population. Secondly, storytelling functions as an indicator of the customers’ thriftiness
and a vehicle for knowledge sharing about where bargains can be found with a little work.
Depending on the context, stories are told for both reasons with five customers engaging in both item acquisition and bargain finding storytelling. Thirdly, storytelling describes another important HPB customer behavior: waiting. Waiting, as seen with five of the customers, is a postponed product search which can be alleviated by shopping multiple HPBs or similar resale outlets or online searching and shopping over an extended length of time. While no customer could give me an idea of an acceptable length for a waiting period, it seems to be a matter of months up to a year and in some cases an indefinite amount of time, usually stemming from a regretted missed opportunity to purchase a particular item. Acceptable waiting periods varied depending on the customer’s desire for the product before they would surrender to full-retail
prices or online shopping. The customers were fully aware they could shorten the waiting
period by turning online, but declined to do so because of the inabillity to visually inspect the
item or because they simply enjoyed the “thrill of the hunt”. Other reasons for declining to
shop online to reduce waiting time included having to use a credit card in the cases of
Customers #3 and #5 or the added cost of shipping mentioned by all of the waiting customers.
The intersection of storytelling for item acquisition, bargain finding, and waiting was perhaps
best summed up by this extended quote from Customer #3,
47 I hit yard sales, Half Price Books, and even antique stores. All of these used record stores; I
usually have pretty good results... One time, I went to a yard sale with $7 and came back with an
Alice Cooper Spawn action figure in the package and the X-Files first series action figures of Scully
and Mulder in the package. I gave a dollar a piece for them... That’s better than online! No
shipping, it’s cheaper and you get to tell the story of how you came across it. (switches to a
goofy-sounding voice, mockingly) ‘Well, I spent three days looking online and spent another
week waiting because of the shipping… How’s that look guys?’ (resumes normal speaking voice) I
want that Indiana Jones story behind getting something…
Here, Customer #3 begins the story by noting his resourcefulness by naming four of his
sources for bargains and rare items. Then he gives very specific details concerning the quality of the items he found demonstrating what he was able to secure for just a few dollars. Customer
#3 then explains why he thinks this method of item acquisition and bargain finding is more gratifying compared to the online shopping experience before asserting that the accompanying story is an important component. He even went so far as to switch the tone of his voice to demonstrate to the researcher how unfulfilling and idiotic the online alternative is in his opinion. There is also an element of eventually displaying his collections with the question of
“How’s that look, guys?” indicating that collections are to be shared and displayed. Customer
#3 compares himself to the famous fictional archaeologist, Indiana Jones, implying that this form of “collecting-archaeology” is a challenging adventure in which the clever protagonist eventually prevails.
One of the most surprising incidents of customer behavior came in the existence and reasoning behind buying multiple copies of the same items. For some, buying something again was less surprisingly a means to merely replace a lost or damaged copy of an item. Customer #4
48 owns several copies of the three Twilight books to have everyday “living room copies”, pristine unread “display copies”, “a car copy because you never know when you might be out somewhere want to reread part of one of the novels” and “(car) trunk copies because you might meet someone or run into someone who you want to give one to.”
Customer #4 also reported buying additional copies of the Twilight books, primarily from HPB’s Clearance sections, to repurpose as art projects by utilizing actual pages of the books. She explained that she participated in a local group of other Twilight fans who make derivative works of art based on the events and quotes from the novels and movies. When asked why she is so involved with Twilight, she related having a real connection to the characters unlike anything else she has read and her opinion of the quality of Stephanie
Meyers’s writing. She discovered the Twilight books at a low point in her life when she was experiencing depression and financial difficulties and she found the book series and reading in general was an “escape that is cheaper than a therapist.”
The existence of buying items for display was also found in five individuals of the sample population citing both books, especially old books, and classic vinyl record covers as interesting decorations. Lastly, only two of the customers reported using the public library. The preceding
HPB customer behaviors, especially the collecting aspects are more driven by the desire to locate and obtain these items as opposed to library borrowing. Permanent ownership, curation, and presentation seems to be more important than the temporary utilization of the items in terms of entertainment or education which a library freely affords.
49 Category 6: Recommendation Sources (AC-AI)
Table13. Category 6: recommendation sources (AC-AI) Category 6: recommendation sources (AC-AI) Customer number Alpha Code Behavior 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # AC Recommendations from radio N N N Y N Y Y Y Y N 5 AD Recommendations from TV Y N N Y Y N Y Y N N 5 AE Recommendations from movie viewing Y N Y N N Y Y N Y N 5 AF Recommendations from podcasts N N N N N Y N N Y N 2 AG Recommendations from websites Y Y N N N N N Y Y Y 5 AH Recommendations from print Y N N N N N N N Y N 2 AI Recommendations from friends N Y Y Y N N N Y N N 3 Category Sub Total 4 2 2 3 1 3 3 4 5 1
This final category is included in the analysis to indicate the active seeking behaviors of
the members of the customer sample. These dimensions provide insights as to genesis of
securing recommendations which occurs before an external information or product search can
begin. Recommendation sources from electronic mass media outlets such as television, radio,
movies and the internet were prevalent.
Recommendation Sources
60% Radio 50% TV 40% Movies 30% Podcasts 20% Websites 10% Print 0%
FIGURE 7. Recommendation sources.
Surprisingly, only three of the customer interviewees reported receiving recommendations from friends. Many of the other customers lamented that they have friends who do not who
50 read the same types of books they enjoy. As Customer #9 related, “…my friends who actually
read… read crap like Fifty Shades of Grey, so they’re no help.” Similarly, Customers #1 and #10, expressed frustration about lacking female friends who can recommend good books and movies, using terms like “girly” and “chick-flick” to describe and disparage the tastes of their friends. Male customers like Customers #5, #6, and #7 considered their reading habits and collections to be more private in nature, but Customer #6 expressed the desire to connect with other readers for he also has non-reader friends. Customers #6 and #7 went to great lengths to thank me at the close of their interviews as did others to a lesser degree for giving them the chance to talk about the things they love. They implied that it was a rare treat to share such information with anyone.
Analyzing Engagement: Interpreting the Sums and Category Participation
After summing all of the affirmative (yes) answers of the 35 dimensions across the six categories, a better picture of overall customer behavior emerges. For example a customer like
Customer #10 has a high number of affirmative (yes) answers in the Technology, Amazon usage, Barnes & Noble Patronage, and Half Price Books patronage categories, but is extremely low in the Acquisition, Deposition, and Storytelling section and Recommendation Sources section. This is in contrast to another example, Customer #3 who has a great number of yes answers in the Item Acquisition, Deposition, and Storytelling section, but is decided low when it comes to other categories such B&N patronage and recommendations.
51 Table 14. Sums included with age and gender Sums included with age and gender Customer number Age Gender Sum 1 58 Female 13 2 31 Male 10 3 31 Male 20 4 61 Female 19 5 30 Male 15 6 32 Male 21 7 65 Male 16 8 57 Female 14 9 35 Female 24 10 31 Female 18
This data when compared to the other preferences in the interview data helps to establish the
potential market segments.
Establishing Potential Customer Shopping Orientations for Market Segmentation
In consideration of the 35 customer behavior dimensions in the six categories, it is
possible to establish potential shopping segments which best define the customer groups based on trends in the data. Primarily, from the interview data, I pose the three following potential market segments: bargain browsers, connected collectors, and multi-format selectors who enjoy both physical and digital items. Two additional groups emerged from the observation, store intercepts, and employee interview data. However, these customer groups seem to display infrequent patronage and more focused shopping goals. This would account for their lack of presence in the above data, because they were either not interested in participating in the study’s drawing, or possibly were not selected in the researcher’s random sample.
Additionally, some meaningful data pertaining to customers’ preferences and behaviors from the store intercept interviews is included. Essentially, half of the ten intercept interviews
52 contain such information while the other half is too focused on specific device usage to
contribute to establishing the potential segmentation. Similarly, from the majority of the observation data, I cannot derive any substantial information on preferences and behaviors beyond device usage. Table 15 details the customer data sources.
Table15. Direct customer data sources from store intercepts and in-depth interviews Direct customer data sources from the store intercepts and in-depth interviews Data source Bargain Connected Multi-format Required Inconclusive browsers collector selector reader Intercept 1 X Intercept 2 X Intercept 3 X Intercept 4 X Intercept 5 X Intercept 6 X Intercept 7 X Intercept 8 X Intercept 9 X Intercept 10 X
Interview 1 X Interview 2 X Interview 3 X Interview 4 X Interview 5 X Interview 6 X Interview 7 X Interview 8 X Interview 9 X Interview 10 X Total: 2 7 3 3 5
From the above combined data, the bargain browsers are the smallest potential
segment. It is not so surprising they are not represented in the limited number of store-
intercept interviews due to their preferences to not use technology in-store. However, as the
smallest potential segment this poses issues of reliability, demonstrating that more research is required to prove or disprove the existence of this pattern of behaviors and preferences.
53 Likewise, the multi-format selectors and the other potential segment of the required readers are comprised of only three individuals each. The difference between these two groupings is the multi-format selectors are more engaged in shopping HPB than the required readers whom as described in more detail later, have a much shorter and focused experience in-store. The researcher believes that the richness of the in-depth interviews offsets the small size of these groupings to an extent and views this research as exploratory, but recognizes the need and value for more research and larger sample populations before any firm market segmentation of
HPB’s customers can be established.
The connected collectors are primarily derived from the interview data, but two of the ten store intercepts involved technology use in-store to maintain collections. The inconclusive intercepts were device focused as mentioned above. Examples of these inconclusive behaviors include instances of customers photographing items to text or email to an absent friend, perhaps a collector, and retrieving stored information such as titles, and web pages to bring outside information searches in to the store for reference. The other potential segments are formulated in large part by employee interviews, as six of the eight employee interviewees mentioned resellers in addition to two declined store intercepts by individuals believed to be resellers. More detailed information about the potential segments and the patterns of behavior and preferences they contain are discussed later in the chapter. The following figure details the most promising potential market segments and their key characteristics.
54 Most Promising Potential Market Segments and Preferences
•Physical items only. Bargain browsers •More inclined to wait to find a desired item at the cheapest price.
Multi-format •Both physical and digital items. selectors •Depends on subject matter and availability.
•Physical items for collecting. Connected collectors •Internet usage is more for research than buying.
FIGURE 8. Most promising potential market segments and preferences.
Of the customer sample in this study, the customers are classified as belonging to the following most promising potential market segments:
• Bargain browsers: Customers #1 and #7.
• Connected collectors: Customers #3, #4, #5, #6, and #9.
• Multi-format selectors: Customers #2, #8, and #10.
The distribution of these groups can be seen in the below figure.
Most Promising Potential Market Segments
2 3 Bargain browsers Connected collectors 5 Multi-format selectors
FIGURE 9. Most promising potential market segments.
55 Potential Segment Profile: Bargain Browsers
These customers are extremely cost conscious, and oftentimes critical of HPB pricing policies and the quality of particular stores’ Clearance sections. They are only interested in physical media and were more likely to wait for an item. They also told bargain-finding stories,
used the internet least, and were older in age. These same two customers were also long-time
HPB customers, both dating back to the 1980s. Customer #1 was very skeptical of a recent HPB
decision to sell new bestsellers, direct from the publisher at 20% off from a third-party
distributor, Baker & Taylor. She expressed that this new concept was “…stupid and for people
with no impulse control… and don’t know they can go to Kroger and get a new book for 25%
off”. Here the concept of waiting reappears along with stories of the lengths to which
customers will go to save money. One customer went to another store to save 5%. Customer #7
was very critical of some HPB stores’ prices and Clearance sections, as he stated, “The store in
N. Arlington has reasonable prices, and I would rather go there than go to the other store (S.
Arlington).” He continued, “Some stores, they just throw some old and dirty books in the
(Clearance) section and expect you to buy them for two or three dollars… give me a break.”
Potential Segment Profile: Connected Collectors
The largest group of customers in the sample can be categorized as connected collectors
because of their use of the internet to facilitate their multiple collections. Each of the
connected collectors maintained multiple collections of physical items. The reasoning behind
keeping and maintaining these collections seem to stem from strong psychological attachments
fostered by a) childhood nostalgia as in Customer #3 collection of old Fangoria horror movie
magazines from the 1980s and b) escapism as seen with Customer #4’s Twilight collection and
56 artwork. These shoppers were largely opposed to shopping online unless to get a new non- collected release or as a last resort. Here also, waiting is important. These same shoppers would wait for the item to appear in a store like HPB as opposed to actively tracking it down online. Further, storytelling was an important and shared dimension. Item-acquisition stories are told in addition to bargain-finding stories. Store atmosphere and customer service was very important to them which is also seen among the multi-format selectors.
Potential Segment Profile: Multi-Format Selectors
These customers were less concerned with price and format. They still prefer the physical book in most cases, but will read for content on an electronic device. The customers in this sample all owned Kindle eReaders, with two of them additionally using the Kindle app on other devices such as a smartphone or a laptop computer. Multi-format selectors are also uninterested in maintaining physical collections.
In consideration of the engagement sums, the bargain browsers and multi-format selectors are very close in their lower totals ranging between sums of 13-18 for both potential segments. Conversely, the connected collectors have higher levels of “engagement” generally with the exception of Customer #5 who has a sum of 15. The other collected collectors’ sums range from 19-24. The size of the sample limits a significant interpretation of the sums and the researcher must consider the nuanced behaviors and preferences of each potential segment.
Table 16 includes the sums and potential segments with the customer interviewee demographics.
57 Table 16. Sums included with age, gender, and potential segment Sums included with age, gender, and potential segment Customer number Age Gender Sum Potential segment 1 58 Female 13 bargain browser 2 31 Male 10 multi-format selector 3 31 Male 20 connected collector 4 61 Female 19 connected collector 5 30 Male 15 connected collector 6 32 Male 21 connected collector 7 65 Male 16 bargain browser 8 57 Female 14 multi-format selector 9 35 Female 24 connected collector 10 31 Female 18 multi-format selector
Other Potential Segments
Required readers are another potential market segment of HPB customer, but are shoppers who have to buy a book for educational reasons such as a reading list title or textbook. Books in this category are limited to textbooks and reading list literature such as To
Kill a Mockingbird, The Kite Runner, and other novels. These customers do not browse in-store and usually engage an employee for help quickly after entering the store. Typically, textbook searches happen at the buy counter or cash register, with the customer immediately leaving after obtaining the book or being told of other options by an employee if the book was not in stock. For example, a required reader does not seem to have the time to check on a book and then browse the DVD section. This potential segment of customers is also heavily reliant on phone calls prior to coming to the store unlike the connected collectors who highly value condition. It is very common for a required reader to call a HPB, have an employee locate the book and then just pick it up at the front counter and leave after purchasing it. Again, there usually is no further browsing after locating the required book. Possibly, required readers are
58 pressed for time, which may make some of the newer HPB services such as a store-to-store transfer or a Search and Ship (SAS) order less viable options as both options represent anywhere from a 3-14 day delay. With this in mind, the required reader may be a temporary potential segment due to situational needs which cannot reasonably include additional information about their more leisurely shopping behaviors.
Resellers, the second and last potential market segment, are not to be confused with sellers who are customers who occasionally sell their merchandise to HPB accounting for the stores’ predominantly used inventory. Resellers are individuals or teams of individuals who buy merchandise from HPB to re-sell in their own stores or more often, online after raising the item’s price to profit from the item’s resale. They typically engage in methodical scanning of barcodes aided by cell phone applications to purchase textbooks to resell as noted in observations and employee interviews. Recently, HPB created a subsidiary, Booksmarter, to compete with online resellers. Employees are fairly indifferent to resellers, but some employees have some degree of difficulty interacting with them because they are more competitor than customer.
Six employees mentioned resellers in their interviews, with two especially seeming resentful that resellers take advantage of coupon sales, often wanting to use multiple coupons or separate transactions to receive a bigger discount which would improve the reseller’s profit margins while adding time to the cashier’s transactions and possibly compromising HPB’s own profit margins. Two resellers were approached for customer intercept interviews, but declined.
One reseller who had just finished scanning an entire shelf of algebra textbooks said he did not have the time. Weeks later at a different location, the other reseller just shook his head to
59 indicate no as he pushed his shopping cart full of various textbooks past the researcher. As with
the behaviors associated with the potential required reader segment, the potential reseller
segment may be temporary due to situational needs which cannot reasonably include
additional information about their more leisurely shopping behaviors.
Orientation Shift and Potential Market Segments
From details in the interview data, it is important to note that these potential segments are not static and were observed to change with the needs of the customers over time. This was perhaps best represented by Customer #8’s previous HPB shopping behaviors where she was primarily a bargain browser in the 1980s, but occasionally operated as a required reader when her children needed a novel for a high school literature class or textbooks for college before returning to bargain browser behaviors, prior to her current behaviors in the potential segment as a multi-format selector given her increased internet usage and e-book reading.
While it would seem possible that customers could also travel among the five potential segments, it seems unlikely that someone, for example, would go from being a multi-format selector to a bargain browser barring any serious lifestyle changes. Hence, the researcher poses that the potential shopping segments are fairly permanent and linear or from bottom to top in terms of technology acceptance, but could include temporary movement into the potential periphery segment of required reader.
Findings: Customer Behavior Interviews
Finding: The majority of the customers did not own or like reading on eReaders. Many of the sensory and tactile qualities associated with books, but lacking from e-books were cited for this
60 preference. For eReader owners, the storage capacity and direct shopping capabilities were
cited as favorable.
Finding: Amazon serves as a primary source for information.
Finding: Barnes & Noble is an offline alternative to Amazon, but customers dislike the company’s service and store atmosphere.
Finding: Multiple HPB stores are visited on a regular basis.
Finding: Customers prefer one Arlington store over the other based on layout or location such as N. Arlington’s community room or S. Arlington’s central geographic position.
Finding: The ability to visually inspect and buy physical products is preferred. Customers collect a variety of products related to their favorite film and movie series.
Finding: Being able to tell the story later is an important aspect of buying physical products at a discount. The reasons for purchasing multiple copies of the same item vary, but are primarily concerned with having back-up copies.
Finding: Customers desire recommendations, but admit to having difficulty locating a source for them. Electronic media outlets serve as recommendation sources more so than friends.
Finding: A total of five potential marketing segments were identified, but the three potential core segments of bargain browser, connected collector, and multi-format selector are the most engaged with HPB’s store environment and employees. The two other potential segments of required readers and resellers are less involved with HPB.
61 Discussion of Employee Interview Data
Employee Search Strategies
The following section details how and when employees search for merchandise for
customers using the employee’s memory and experiences or technological sources like the
internet and an inventory database. The employee interviews were important in assessing their
perceptions of the HPB’s adaptation to technology and customer device use. Further, this data
demonstrates the employees’ subtle social friction with customers who prefer to present
pictures of items on their device screens as opposed to participating in a more conversation-
based exchange. Lastly, the organizational challenges of implementing new technology emerge
which significantly alter employee workloads and customer service standards. The researcher’s sample yielded the following eight employees from both stores. In the interest of employee privacy, information such as an individual’s job title, store of employment, and length of service
are not included as they may identify the interviewee. Table 17 provides the age and gender for
the employees.
Table 17. General employee sample demographics General employee sample demographics Employee letter Age Gender A 29 Male B 50 Female C 53 Male D 35 Female E 39 Male F 29 Female G 42 Male H 44 Male
62 One of the major aims of this research project was to determine what strategies
employees use for locating merchandise for customers. All of the employees were remarkably
consistent in their descriptions of their strategies, suggesting that this process is fairly uniform
and stable. The process begins when a customer approaches an employee in order to locate
something. The item location process proceeds with a series of questions and answers between the customer and the employee. Depending on the actual item requested by the customer the
employee will (1) take the customer to the shelf and put the item in their hands, if they posses
forehand knowledge of an item being in stock and where it would be located based on memory
(2) research the item on Amazon.com if there are gaps in the customer’s knowledge or if the
employee is unfamiliar with the item or (3) look in the Bookworm inventory system to check for
the availability of an item and shelf identification number at the store or another store.
Employees also reported the usefulness of toggling back and forth between Amazon.com and
the Bookworm system in the “tabs” especially when the customer’s request concerned a
particular edition of a textbook. In this way, employees can copy and paste an ISBN number
from Amazon.com directly into Bookworm, avoiding pulling up older editions and publication
year matching. While the problem solving strategies of the employees were fairly common to
all employees, the uses of Amazon were not. Additionally, the amount of information given by
the customer came to them with greatly varied which caused the employees to be quite
creative in utilizing their available tools.
The employees’ memories are an important component of the location process.
Unanimously, the employee interviewees expressed that they would not use the internet or the
inventory system if they knew exactly if an item was in stock and where an item was located. It
63 was pointless and time consuming to do so. One employee spoke of this being off-putting to some customers who seemed to expect the employee would have to go the computer first because they did not expect the employee to know exactly where an item was without using the computer first. In the customer interviews, the employees’ knowledge of the store’s stock was frequently mentioned and applauded. Employees cited their memory of an item’s location as stemming from a) recent or frequent interaction with the store environment in section work, b) having recently bought or seeing “new” used merchandise at the buy counter, c) exposure to the requests of previous customers for reading list literature titles and textbooks, and d) even the straightening of the stores as part of the opening and closing duties, which as one employee explained, is where “…you look at books for 30 minutes through several sections while getting the shelves tidy.” The employees also reported using other employees’ memories as a resource, relying on the co-workers’ recent in-store experiences such as being at the buy counter, and the known subject expertise of different employees on various occasions. Subject expertise in this case, refers to the outside interests an employee brings to their work. For example, one employee interviewee related a story of another employee who is an avid mystery reader in their spare time and who had, “…saved my bacon quite a few times because they knew some obscure factoid or character’s name that no one else knew.” This of course, benefits the employee and customer. The employees also preferred using each other as resources which like their own memory they believed to be faster than using the internet or inventory system.
64 Employees’ Use of Electronic Resources
Amazon.com is used in a multitude of ingenious manners for assisting HPB employees in
information and product searches. One of its uses is correcting incomplete or incorrect titles
thanks to the auto-fill settings built into the website. Other uses include using it as a guide to determine item placement for genres which more or less correspond to the layout of the
stores’ sections. This is especially helpful for the employees when a customer approaches them
with a title or author which they are not familiar with. This use of Amazon is one of the oldest
information gathering strategies for the employees prior to there being an inventory system
and looks like it will continue as the employees mentioned there are no plans to enter pocket
paperback fiction books into the inventory system due to the high volume and low price point
of this product category. This makes Amazon useful because HPB employees can evaluate the
website’s genre classifications and book synopses to locate paperback titles unfamiliar to them.
This is especially helpful if a book has a generic title or in narrowing down a book’s location
within a sub-section. For example, determining if a paperback would be in the Romance or
Paranormal Romance section is often aided by Amazon to avoid directing the customer to the
wrong section. Amazon is also useful to determine release dates for future books and the order
of titles in a series. Perhaps one of the best features of Amazon as a tool for product
information and location is the picture of an item that usually accompanies the text. Employees
also reported being able to use this feature of Amazon as a reminder in a book section, or
compare against the picture on a customer’s screen or in the customer’s memory. This way the
employee can confirm looking for the correct item. A co-searching process takes place when a
customer refers to Amazon on their device while an employee uses their available tools such as
65 the inventory system to locate an item. Amazon is also used occasionally as a reference for pricing with some employees trying to entice customers to buy an item in-store at HPB by
pricing an item even a dollar under Amazon’s used price.
Bookworm is HPB’s proprietary inventory viewing and customer service system that
works in conjunction with the Store Inventory Processing System (SIPS) (see glossary) for labeling items. The SIPS database is now linked to Amazon.com for further price comparisons.
The following process is referred to as “SIP-ing” in which items are “SIP-ed.” First, an item’s barcode product label is scanned or the ISBN number is manually entered into a database which is continuously built up by employees at stores around the country over the course of years. In SIPS, employees can see the item, price, the number of days currently in inventory, and the number of days the item took to sell at the price listed if the item has been sold. The
SIPS program also shows if an item has been entered into the inventory at the employee’s store, at other stores in the district, and at other stores throughout the company. This also gives the employee the store subject category that an item was SIP-ed in. This information is then uploaded to Bookworm in a matter of minutes, making an item viewable to all of the other stores in the company. Once an item is Shelf Scanned, (see glossary) it can be easier found and even directly ordered to be shipped to a customer. Figure 10 below demonstrates how both the
SIPS and Shelf Scan databases feed into the bridge system, Bookworm, which is the customer service tool that employees use to locate items for customers.
66 SIPS Bookworm Shelf Scan
•Data entry tool for •Customer service •Data entry tool for pricing. tool. logging the location of items. •Used items are •Used to check for entered into "SIP-ed" items at the •Denotes an item's Bookworm's employee's store or location on a section inventory. other HPBs and the and shelf in section and shelf Bookworm. •Connected to location (of "Shelf Amazon for price Scanned" items). •Can display an item's comparison. shipping, hold or •Also used to transfer status. complete Search and Ship (SAS) orders for customers.
FIGURE 10. Bookworm and its supporting databases, SIPS and Shelf Scan.
The Bookworm inventory system was also a common starting point for employees to
locate an item. Many of them reported that it would be used second to, or immediately
following a request from a customer depending on the employee’s familiarity with the item or
the amount of information the customer had given them. Among the employee population,
there are still those who are skeptical about Bookworm’s accuracy, with one employee describing it as “a somewhat accurate picture of the inventory.” The employees reported anomalies such as five copies of a book being shown in the system when actually none were on the shelf and reverse situations of an item being shown as out of stock, but at least one SIP-ed copy in-store. There are also fairly regular cases of “old” items of six months or more especially at other stores being shown in a store which causes employees to doubt its availability given their knowledge of merchandise turn-over. In a similar vein, Bookworm will also occasionally
display items dating back to 2003, several years before the experimental development of the
system by HPB. These faulty listings force the employee to ignore or try to explain their
67 existence which is detrimental in terms of confidence in the system for both customers and employees. However, the majority of the employees sampled understand that while an imperfect tool, Bookworm is becoming more helpful as time passes.
One way that Bookworm seems to be improving is by using it in addition to a system called Shelf Scan. Shelf Scan is a way of better pinpointing an item’s location in-store so it can easily be located by employees which will become increasingly important as more HPBs transition to becoming I-Stores with internet linked inventories which customers can search online. Shelf Scan consists of barcode stickers called Shelf Tags that will eventually be on all of the shelves. This is important because no longer is one employee’s placement of a book a major issue when another employee is looking for it. This was cited as a major frustration by one employee because “a history book would be showing in the inventory system, but labeled as philosophy…” a book might have been erroneously labeled or shelved in a different section by another employee. For example, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and
Redemption could possibly be shelved in four sub-sections depending on the opinion or merchandising strategies of the employee who priced and shelved the book. This book could plausibly be placed on the general World War II shelves, the World War II biography shelves, the Pacific Theater shelves for World War II, and the less-specific Sea Power shelves of the larger Military History section. Certainly with multiple copies, the book may deliberately be placed on a couple of the above shelves to increase the likelihood of a browsing customer finding it. Shelf Scan can give the employee the exact shelf or shelves where a book is located, shaving considerable time in the search. The employees who have experienced finding a book with Shelf Scan seem enthused that is reliable and augments the existing Bookworm system. At
68 end of the fieldwork period, both the N. Arlington and S. Arlington stores had Shelf IDs and
Shelf Tags for all of the non-fiction sections and were planning to expand to the media and
fiction sections by the end of 2013. However, one significant drawback mentioned by the
employees is that there are only two scanning guns for the system per store. Additionally, when
items are placed on hold, to be transferred to another store, shipped directly to a customer, or
sent to the store’s clearance section, they must be added to the appropriate shelves or status
coded in the computer system.
Some employees thought the system was a good idea, but were unhappy about the
limited number of scan guns and how monotonous and time-consuming updating the shelves
was which meant scanning every book with a SIPS barcode. The researcher observed an
employee “shelf scanning” half of the Social Sciences section in 35 minutes time. To scan all of
the shelves in the store this amounts to 28 hours of additional work that must be completed
over the span of 2 weeks (per current company policy) during regular business hours, with no
addition staffing, and not accounting for unforeseen events like absenteeism, shifts in customer
traffic at the cash register or buy counter, or even small interruptions by customers just trying
to locate an item, this is a burden on employee time. This is also especially daunting considering
that there are only two scan guns in the each store, so only two sections at a time can be
scanned. Further, the above rough estimate does not account for the entire store being on
Shelf Scan by the end of the year.
With the digitizing and linking of the stores’ inventories HPB can now present its merchandise to a much wider audience in-store. Customers in one state can have a book shipped directly to them from thousands of miles away. As more stores become I-Stores, with
69 publically searchable online inventories which customers can freely access, the customer audience will expand substantially. Soon, customers will be able to shop at HPB from the comfort of their own internet enabled device without contacting HPB in-store. Many of the employees in the customer sample were excited about the prospects of expanding in this manner. Additionally, local Dallas-Ft. Worth stores can transfer items from one store to another at no charge to the customer. However, this was described as a process that can take anywhere from a few days up to two weeks depending on the warehouse distribution delivery truck routes. Perhaps, the best assessment of the situation came from an employee who stated, “We have the books, maybe here or at our store, or at a HPB in North Dallas or in Columbus, Ohio, it is just a matter of getting the books to the customer in a reasonable amount of time.” When presented with all of these options, many which were completely unknown to the researcher’s customer population, employees noted customers often declined HPB’s Search and Ship (SAS) option stating they would try to find the item online. This is especially puzzling, as Employee F. related, “I guess they can wait a week from Amazon or they can wait a week from us.” While the store-to-store transfers seem to be well liked by the employees, the waiting period is too long. Employee G. suggested a special delivery car or van to handle these, saying that the costs to offset a driver and related fuel and vehicle costs could be accomplished by charging $1-2 per item for 1-2 day service. However, the employee quickly noted that this would undoubtedly create another set of logistics for the company to try to manage.
Employees also reported that customers naturally had varying levels of knowledge about an item. This could range from a character’s name in a novel to a full or partial photograph of a book’s cover to an ISBN. The employees further explained that sometimes the
70 customer’s information was incomplete in that it was partial or erroneous. ISBNs had historically been useless to HPB employees as the company had no way to correlate an ISBN to an item in the store before the new inventory software. With the recent changes, employees
prefer the ISBN information, which they are quite happy a customer may have if it is a textbook
or a book with a generic title.
Employees seemed to be conflicted regarding the expansion of technology in their work
environments both in terms of the company’s moves to have an actual inventory system and
the customers’ behaviors in the stores. A common view was that the inventory system is
imperfect, understandably so, but does not pose a major issue. Employees did relate to me that
it is refreshing that customers seem to have more knowledge at their fingertips with pictures
and ISBNs, but also expressed that this was leading to a reduction in human interaction because
customers would just walk in and shove a phone in their face. Seven of the eight employees
interviewed spoke of this and even went so far as make the shoving motion toward me to demonstrate the experience. They feel that this cuts down on the exchange of information, was rude on the part of the customer as well as being impractical. The employees were sometimes handed phones which made some of them uncomfortable because they suddenly felt responsible for the safety of the customer’s device. Others reported that they could not read the titles in the photographs if screen resolution was low, or the picture was dark or blurry.
While some of the employees like Employee D. who chalked this up to “being old school”, there are actually several pragmatic reasons described by the other employees for not liking to go off of the visual information provided by the customers’ devices. In many cases, the photos of books were said to be incomplete. If a customer took a photo of a friend or classmate’s book in
71 a hurry they may have inadvertently chopped off important title information which made the employee’s information search longer, more difficult or impossible.
Employees’ Observations of Customer Technology Use
Employees were asked how they had seen customers using technology in the stores.
Most of their experiences seemed to deal with the frontline information search leading to the item’s location. However, six employees stated that they had also observed resellers scanning books for resale. Some of the interviewees went to great lengths to describe the now scarce attached small scanner/PDA set-ups that were once commonplace to the more recent smartphone camera/scanner apps used by the resellers. One employee seemed quite peeved that the resellers “exploited” company promotions to enhance their profit margins to resell a book and speculated what apps and services they were using. The employees did not seem to have any real knowledge of the majority of customers’ non-merchandise related uses of technology which I observed.
Findings: Employee Interviews
Finding: Employees use different search strategies depending on the situation. In all cases, their memory and recent in-store experiences (including those of their co-workers) are preferred as opposed to using electronic resources.
Finding: Bookworm’s reliability is improving with the addition of Shelf Scan. However,
Amazon.com is still valuable to employees for non-inventoried items such as paperback novels and when a customer provides incomplete or incorrect information.
Finding: Employees assumed that all mobile technology use by customers was merchandise related. The results from customer data indicates this is not true.
72 Events and Promotions
Historically, the HPB stores in Arlington have had events occasionally events such as
local author book signings with mixed results. As a means to combat online shopping, company
attention has returned to the possibility of having more events on a regular basis to drive
customer traffic. Events and discount nights are submitted to the marketing department and posted on the individual store pages as well as in regular HPB blog posts that act as a “round-
up” of all of the store-submitted events for stores companywide.
FIGURE 11. S. Arlington’s new event flyer featuring a QR code from mid-May 2013.
During the project, both locations had a semi-regular children’s story time on Sunday
afternoons which seems to have been met with a lukewarm response according to the
employee interviewees. Employee E. explained that sometimes at the designated story time,
there might only be one or two children in the store, so it felt unnecessary in those cases. This
same employee related an experience where a customer demanded a story time after seeing it
73 on the store’s webpage and driving to Arlington from Dallas. Additionally, Employee B. (who
works at a different store than Employee E.) said if the employees were too busy at the buy
counter or cash register at the designated story time, it would be unceremoniously cancelled
and they had received no complaints from customers for doing this.
The employees recalled having flyers posted on the door or bulletin board when the
story times first began, but that seems to have been discontinued. It was not surprising that
eight of the ten customer interviewees had no knowledge of HPB’s children’s story time.
Further, employee interviewees who did not normally work on Sundays also had no to little
knowledge of the success of story time. This possibly indicates a lack of interest and
communication, reflecting perhaps larger systemic or noncommittal views about hosting the
events in general. Lastly, employees who were aware of the submission form and process of
submitting an event to the marketing department often forgot to do so, and spoke of it as an added hassle.
The other most common type of HPB event was local author book signings, which were described by the employees as disappointing and almost comical given the lack of interest. The local authors that the HPBs in Arlington have been able to attract are in most cases, first-time self-published authors who approach the stores personally because they do not have a publicist. Employees reported that because the authors are so unknown and they do not have the resources to really promote their appearances other than a poster from the author and the website listing, “the signings are embarrassingly bad.” Many employees expressed feeling sorry for the authors because “no one cared” according to Employee B. or the author “was crammed
74 into a section” or they “were stuck next to the front door” as described by Employee D. This
brings out another important challenge of hosting events, space.
The N. Arlington location has a dedicated community room which the S. Arlington store
lacks. All of the S. Arlington employee interviewees expressed that they would love to have
events, but felt there was simply no space to do so. I, with the client report in mind, explored
the feasibility of occasionally erecting a tent in the parking lot and other alternatives which
proved entirely too costly considering costs like tent rentals, city permits, and reorganizing the
store at great loss to merchandise display space. Further, the S. Arlington store cannot expand in either direction in their current shopping strip due to an existing business on one side and a firewall between the store and a vacant space on the other side. It was said the firewall could not be breached without installing a fire sprinkler system, estimated to be $70,000 to $90,000,
in the existing and expanded areas according to informal conversations with employees during
later in-store observations.
The question becomes where in the store can events in S. Arlington be held?
Unfortunately, aside from children’s events which are fairly small, but can easily be contained in
the children’s section, I cannot recommend events beyond children’s events at this store in its present location. However, as seen in the employee and customer interviews, there is often little or no delineation between an event such as a book signing and a promotion such as a sale, a discount night, or the Black Friday door buster. I recommend the S. Arlington store focus
more on children’s events and discount nights.
At the time of the project research, there was a Retro Media Night on Fridays from 7 PM
to 10 PM where customers receive an extra 20% discount on used vinyl records, cassette tapes,
75 8-tracks, and VHS videotapes. This promotion has been in effect since August of 2011 and does
not seem very successful from interview and observation data. I observed this promotion on
March 8, 2013 from 7 PM to 9 PM, and did not see any sizable increase in traffic and recorded
relatively low section counts of 19 customers at 7:30 PM and 11 customers at 8:30 PM. Reasons
for the lack of excitement about the Retro Media Night can be attributed in part to the lack of
promotion and a flyer in an inopportune part of the store atop the DVD section and away from vinyl record section.
FIGURE 12. Retro Media Night flyer placement. Flyer marked by the red arrow.
Also, there was no announcement on the store’s loud speaker system for this event or any upcoming events ever made at either store in my 60 hours of observation. Instead the loud speaker system is only used by the employees to page customers to the buy counter when their
76 offer is ready, to ask for assistance in various parts of the stores, and to announce the store will be closing fifteen minutes prior to the close of business.
I observed an event in N. Arlington’s community room on May 24, 2013 which featured
a performance by a local pirate poetry and storytelling troupe, The Seadog Slam. The group
made flyers for the event which were posted on the N. Arlington store’s events bulletin board
near the coffee counter and heavily promoted it on the group’s Facebook page as “…Friday
night in Arrrrlington, TX the Seadog Slam presents: An Evening of Pirate Poetry and Tales of the
Sea plus ‘Pirate Idol’ open mike (a/k/a ‘Tortuga's Got Talent’). Wear your finest garb and bring
your best blarney shtick jive: a poem, a song, a dance, a joke, a limerick bring it.” (The Seadog
Slam 2013). During the event, the community room became more of a stage or a band shell,
with customers pulling up chairs or sitting on the floor in the nearby Super Buys section outside of the community room. Walking through the store, the majority of the customers seemed to be listening to the songs, stories, and poems of the Seadog Slam’s performers and chuckling at their corny jokes. There was only one man who prior had been quietly reading at the history section’s reading table who seemed annoyed and left. Again, there was no loud speaker announcement to signal the start of the event other than the performers introducing themselves as the event began. While the event was moderately attended with 17-20
individuals and some customers even dressed up in pirate costumes, many customers seemed
to browse the event by watching for a few minutes before going back to their shopping.
77
FIGURE 13. The Seadog Slam performing at the N. Arlington store.
Eighty percent of the customer interviewees and all of the employee interviewees thought children’s events were a priority and a great way to encourage children to read. Story time was commonly mentioned as a possible event, but is challenging given the available staffing and promotional capabilities of the company. Customers looked at societal flaws and believed that HPB was in a unique position to get books into children’s hands, promote reading, and entertain and educate them, and often mentioned children as HPB’s future customers.
Both the customers and the employees were at a loss to brainstorm events that would appeal to teens despite the popularity of Young Adult Fiction. However, the following children’s events were recommended by the customers:
• Workshops for crafting demonstrations.
• Costume events promoting certain genres and books.
• Seasonal events like Halloween costume contests.
78 Coincidentally, Customer #6 recalled a Halloween costume party that had taken place at
the N. Arlington store in 2011 which he and his family had attended. He explained that the event was “a lot of fun and gave the store a small town feel that you just can’t get at other places.” Customer #6 also went on to express his desire to see more events and hopefully family-friendly educational experiences that could “help fill in the gaps between the school system and PBS” and be entertaining to both children and adults.
Customers recommended informative and instructional events would be best for adults including:
• A Nostalgia section event based on antique books and appraisal criteria.
• Historical themed events such as a World War II Night or a Texas History Night.
• Literary character events such as a Sherlock Holmes Night or Harry Potter Day.
• Seasonal events such as a romance novel event around Valentine’s Day.
• A travel recommendation event in the spring or summer.
• A New Parents Day which could focus on popular parenting books.
• A presence in community activities such as parades.
Employee event recommendations included:
• Workshops for cooking and craft demonstrations.
• A table at a teacher’s convention to sign up teachers for the HPB’s educators discount
card.
• A bloodmobile/ blood drive in the parking lot.
• Open mic comedy.
• Poetry slams.
79 All of the employee interviewees and nine of the customer interviewees thought pairing an event with a discount with a corresponding book or media section was a good idea. Only one customer disagreed saying that events and sales should be separate as to not distract customers’ attention from the specialness of an event. Employees were very receptive to the idea of pairing an event and a discount and suggested building special displays to promote slow selling sections such as Pets and Nature to appeal new pet owners. The consensus among the employees was that it did not hurt to experiment with the idea and perhaps HPB should hold events “on a Wednesday or Thursday evening when business is slow… because we already have the customers on the weekends” as proposed by Employee B. Further, Employee D. made the recommendation that perhaps the two Arlington stores could work together and tap into both stores’ “knowledgeable and talented people” to plan and execute events.
Promotions like the coupon calendars and coupon mailers were mentioned favorably by the customers in general. However, some customers in the sample were unaware of both the regular mail and email list used to communicate sales and events with customers. Similarly, customers were largely unaware of HPB’s presence on social media sites like Facebook and
Twitter. One customer was completely unaware of HPB having any type of mailing list or even a website. She suggested the company develop a mobile application and walked me through her iPhone apps for various stores such as the Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Store and Hobby Lobby suggesting that HPB not overwhelm users with too much information if they should ever develop an application of their own. She recommended that an HPB app be limited to three to four items: “Store Locator, Specials, New Arrivals, and Events.”
80 Customers also said they enjoyed the 20% off sales throughout the year, but did not really look forward to them or attend unless they were going to HPB anyway. One customer said if she missed a sale it was not a big deal because there would be another one in a couple of months. She continued to say that maybe if an event was coupled with a sale, she “…might make more of an effort to go because events don’t happen all of the time.” Customer #6 said that he thought the usual 50% off everything built into the company’s name was already a great deal and he thought the company was “running it into the ground with all of these sales and gimmicks” and made the company “look hard up for business.” A few customers felt the discount should be higher and that 20% was “stingy” and nothing to get excited about. Further, customers reported that they did not hear the radio commercials for HPB anymore that usually advertised sales and promotions. There are certainly potential for experimenting with events and promotions which will require some changes to current practices and planning.
Findings: Events and Promotions
Finding: Both events and promotions at the two Arlington HPB stores seem to have been met with mixed success.
Finding: Both customers and employees suggested that better advertising of HPB events and promotions is required to improve attendance.
Finding: Both customers and employees desired to have events ranging from workshops to various themed events and stressed HPB should hold children’s events especially.
Finding: Combining promotions and events was favored by nine of the ten individuals in the customer interview population and unanimously by the employee interviewees.
81 CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, AND RECCOMMENDATIONS
Discussion
There is definite evidence from the study which indicates that customers have a wide
range of behaviors and use technology at various points before, during, and after information
and product searches. Mobile technology is used in a myriad of clever ways by customers to
entertain, connect with others, and research merchandise information. A major concern of the
project sponsor and HPB in general, was perceived instances of showrooming and the difficulty
of competing with the enormous offerings of online retailers and electronic downloads which
they felt were pushing their inventory and business model into obsolescence. However, direct
competition with online stores while in-store was absent in the store intercept interviews, in-
depth interviews, and my observations of customer behavior. It is interesting to note that
employee interviewees deemed this as a problem and the primary reason customers used
smartphones in the store, echoing the concerns of the company and management. It is clear
that the brick-and-mortar bookstores and physical products still have many advantages over their online competitors and electronic alternatives in terms of the serendipity of browsing and sensory and tactile qualities of physical items. HPB’s efforts to establish a searchable computerized inventory, Search and Ship (SAS) orders, and store-to-store transfers have largely
been unnoticed by the customer sample. In the interviews, customers recalled customer service
encounters from 5-8 years ago where HPB employees told them the company did not have a
computerized inventory or a way to order or transfer items from other stores. The customers assumed nothing had changed and therefore were unaware of these changes.
82 Behavioral trends leading to possible customer segmentation was achievable in this study because of similarities in perceptions, habits and attitudes of the customers, giving the company insight to the behaviors of their customers. This was important to the study in establishing that the customer, like the company itself does not represent a homogenous population. There is often a one-size-fits-all approach to people in customer service and marketing, which segmentation helps to defy. This information allows the client to evaluate its practices and marketing efforts. Further, the study’s focus approached the population from an anthropological and qualitative perspective which is less common than the surveys and databases used in psychographics. Without the in-depth customer interviews, much of the information which became the foundation of the study’s behavioral trends and potential market segmentation would have not been revealed.
One interesting commonalty among members of the customer sample which presented itself was a sense of disconnectedness or loneliness. While many customers shopped with family and loved ones and HPB patronage was generational in several instances, they seemed to lack friends who shared their interests and even grieved about not having anyone who understood the reasons behind their reading and collecting habits. This was also demonstrated by the frustrations they expressed in getting recommendations for similar authors, book series, movies, and music due to this missing social connection. While some customer interviewees shared a great deal in common with one another, it was disconcerting to know they would likely never meet despite shopping in the same stores and sections for years. This disconnectedness is further amplified in their low expectations of store events and promotions.
83 In terms of events, the customer sample was more interested in providing educational
opportunities for children, their own children, grandchildren, and other children. This reinforces
the family-over-self aspect of HPB patronage. There was a general consensus that events should be more educational than entertaining, but overall they did not expect HPB to hold
events. HPB employees were concerned primarily with the logistics and the advertising of
events, more so than any entrepreneurial benefit that could be obtained from hosting events.
Here, events become an extra service, but not a real means of community or relationship
building for the customers and more of a desperate gimmick to drive customer traffic for the
employees’ point-of-view despite an expressed desire to offer events as an extra service. An
underlying concern of the employee interviewees was who would actually plan events and how
would they be managed with employees already feeling stressed from their regular duties.
These differing perspectives between the customers and the employees create a formidable
challenge in terms of establishing and maintaining HPB as a third place by definition. At
present, neither HPB store in Arlington is a third place due to the lack of interaction and communication between customers despite the possibility of Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory being present. This stems from the solitary and quiet in-store behaviors which the customers exhibit especially in the absence of events.
Employee interviewees had remarkably similar strategies for item and information location and freely depended on one another for assistance which is evidence of superb training and cooperation. However, communication is an issue in terms of relating event success to those who did not work during the time of an event. Repeatedly, it became apparent that employees who did not work an event assumed it was successful or had not cared to ask.
84 For example, the researcher talked to employees who worked during the Sunday story times who related impressions of poor turnout and event failure compared to employees who never worked Sundays who thought story time was successful or admitted they had never thought to
ask the Sunday employees. This limited communication repeated itself concerning details of the
Retro Media Night on Fridays as well. Observation of these events confirmed poor turnout and
limited success, but moreover poor communication and promotion to the customers.
Employee acceptance of technology from both sides of the counter is also mixed. Few employees are happy with the amount of time involved with the extra steps now required to locate a book as it takes time away from their other responsibilities. Employees were quick to note how impersonal customers seem when they display their smartphone screens to employees instead of talking to them. Yet, there are employees who think the company should install computer kiosks which would allow customers to search for items in-store on their own,
speaking of how much time it would save the employees. In both cases, technology becomes a barrier to social interaction in the store environment presented as a time-saving tool. At times,
employees would cut corners in terms of customer service which was both revealed in
observation and interviews due to time pressures to complete assigned tasks and regular
duties. Employee interviewees were both impressed and distressed by the recent increase of
technology in their work environment and expressed a desire to have more employees and
more devices such as scanners in order to accomplish what the company was trying to achieve.
Conclusion
In consideration of the data, the use of technology by customers is a positive rather than competing force due to the considerable lack of actual showrooming. Yet, technology
85 creates a wall between customers and employees in terms of social interaction with customers
shifting to “phone shoving” instead of engaging in the more verbal greetings and requests HPB
employees have been accustomed to. The time and complexity of interacting with technology causes much consternation among employees because they ultimately distrust the accuracy of the inventory data and would prefer to use their own memories and experiences and those of other employees. Bookstores and physical items which can be directly inspected are still preferable by HPB shoppers, a definite advantage over online retailers and downloadable media.
Events are desired by both populations who already recognize the unforeseen costs of providing these as an extra service. Children’s events clearly take priority over educational adult-focused events and no such events are really expected given the customers and employees previous experiences with HPB. Many customers were largely unaware of HPB’s technological efforts in recent years and had not even considered the possibility of events. Both customer and employee interviewees expressed that more promotion was needed to communicate with customers. Likewise, employee communication was largely absent concerning event details and customers were disconnected and alone with their passions for books and collecting. Events have the potential to drive customers to HPB locations and provide a venue for customers to interact with one another and receive the book and media recommendations they seek.
In consideration of the adaptation among the employees and the varied customer behavior as revealed in the study’s data, company strategy must be altered to cope with the changing landscape. If the publishing and bookselling industries are changing in reaction to
86 technologies such as downloadable media and e-books that were decidedly less prevalent five years ago, HPB too must reconsider its strategies quickly and continually. There is great potential in altering current approaches to customer service, staffing, communication, and planning. Further, HPB has a loyal customer base that takes pride in the company’s growth, but will often informally offer suggestions. At times, these suggestions are in the form of passing verbal complaints which were brought up at times in the customer interviews, but HPB has the opportunity to leverage this feedback to its advantage.
Recommendations
Based on the data collected and analyzed, the researcher offers the following ten recommendations to address the priori issues and those which emerged during the course of the fieldwork.
1. Improve communication between same-store employees and nearby HPB stores.
Develop a system of communicating between employees from one day to the next and encourage brainstorming to address matters such as underwhelming event turnout. Each store is stocked with employees who are experts on various subject matters; pair-up employees between stores to share information and bridge the gaps in each other’s knowledge to build cross-HPB relationships and provide better product recommendations to the customers. These partnerships would be ongoing relationships and relatively easy to facilitate in semi-regular meetings since the two stores are just an estimated four miles apart.
2. Actively provide customers with product recommendations.
Repurpose shelf talkers to recommend similar authors in fiction sections which can fulfill the recommendation roles of the employees when they are otherwise committed. Likewise, there
87 are a multitude of opportunities to educate HPB shoppers about similar films, musical artists,
and book-to-film adaptations throughout the stores by adapting the shelf talkers with this type of information. Modify current shelf talkers to be perpendicular to the shelves for greater
visibility. Host informal discussion/conversational events at the N. Arlington store which are
promoted at both stores so customers can interact and receive recommendations from each
other.
3. Poll HPB customers for event ideas.
Encourage suggestions from the customers for event ideas. Evaluate the possibilities for letting individual customers host events such as book clubs or live performances. This reduces event planning time and costs for HPB and fosters community and cooperation with the customers.
4. Events can be a collaborative partnership between stores.
Stores lacking event space such as S. Arlington could partner with nearby stores with event
space. This will relieve the stress of event planning and hosting if information and staff can be
shared to accomplish this goal while strengthening cross-HPB employee relationships. However,
this partnership could potentially cause the S. Arlington store to lose customers to their N.
Arlington counterpart. Further, issues concerning staffing and technological equipment should
be addressed before any employees are asked to assist in events at other stores. Experiment
with pairing events and discounts together to add value and interest to the event. For example,
themed event nights could feature a nearby display to increase the sale of discounted items
related to that night’s event.
5. Consider having fewer, but better sales and promotions.
88 Customers have lost enthusiasm for sales because of their frequency and perceived low
discounts. Conduct more research concerning rarer sales and raising the sale discount
percentage at a corporate marketing level. For example, instead of the current three 20% off sales per year, try to reinvigorate the customers’ perceptions of the sales as being special events by having two 30% off sales per year with increased promotion.
6. Improve promotion of events.
Place flyers for discount nights in better locations and announce them over the store loud speaker to inform customers of their existence.
7. Address employees concerns regarding technology.
Communicate ways to overcome and accept the perceived “rudeness” of “phone shoving” by customers in comfortable informal employee training meetings to better handle and accept the change. Acknowledge the positive progress yielded by the efforts of the company.
8. Alleviate the time pressure and stress experienced by employees caused by technology.
Reconsider job design, daily/hourly job rotation, scheduling, and individual employee strengths so customers do not experience sub-standard service because an employee is preoccupied with tasks. If additional technological equipment is needed, but not affordable, communicate with other stores and district level management on how to overcome these challenges or share resources.
9. Cater more to the possible market segments of the customers.
The possible market segments in this study illustrate an important factor in addressing the needs and wants of shoppers. Focus on the browsing and sensory advantages present in the store which cannot be easily replicated online.
89 • Bargain browsers: When possible, display a special cart of Clearance books in or near
the Clearance section to temporarily expand the size of the section and further pique
the interest of this potential market segment. Remember that Clearance merchandise
should be clean and reasonably priced.
• Connected collectors: Build displays targeted to series, cross-format, and franchise
collectors. This will increase the purchases of series books, vinyl albums in addition to
compact discs, and books which have been adapted as movies. For example,
commemorate film release dates for popular franchises such as Star Wars by building a
display featuring DVDs, CD soundtracks, novels, comics and collectibles related to the
movies.
• Multi-format selectors: Consider displaying small signs which could compare HPB’s
lower prices for certain items against the prices for the same item as an Amazon Kindle
or iTunes download. Better promote the new and discounted best sellers from Baker &
Taylor as these titles are often downloaded in lieu of the physical book because this
potential segment and others do not usually consider HPB as a source for new releases.
• Required readers: This potential segment is likely pressed for time, so consider stocking
a few known and in-demand reading list titles at the register to make it easier for them
to locate. Look for opportunities to inform this potential segment of HPB’s other
services such as Search and Ship (SAS) or store-to-store transfers which may help them
in the future.
• Resellers: Consider adding more textbook shelves in the non-fiction sections to assist
this potential segment in locating what they desire which may benefit some required
90 readers as well. If the textbooks are closer together, this may minimize what some
employees view as disruptive barcode scanning. The resellers are customers first and
should not be viewed as direct competitors to the stores. HPB and its subsidiaries, the
resellers, and other booksellers regularly compete with Amazon and the internet.
10. Take note of customers’ verbal suggestions and complaints.
While HPB stores have comment (suggestion) boxes, many customers may be unaware of their existence or simply will not take the time to fill out the form, but they will comment to employees. Another way of looking at verbal comments is if the customers did not care, they would not tell anyone. Employees should make an effort to track this data in a shared notebook or binder for the manager to review weekly. This will provide insights to what customers like and dislike about the HPB store experience. After review, address these recorded complaints and compliments.
91 CHAPTER 6
REFLECTIONS
The spark for this applied thesis project began quite auspiciously in August of 2011.
About a week before I began my graduate work at UNT, I was working at the S. Arlington Half
Price Books as a seasonal temporary employee. A man came in and bought a novel from the
Clearance section and was very pleased to have found it. He told me that he routinely downloaded sample chapters on his Nook and then looked for discounted physical copies at
HPB. Almost a year later, I began a dialogue with Scott LaChance, the Tarrant County District
Manager of Half Price Books, about the possibility of conducting my thesis research for HPB. He was very excited about the prospects as he noted my then very tentative research questions were the type of information HPB always wanted to know about, but never really had a way to ask.
Every phase of this process from negotiating the details with the client, drafting the
proposal, obtaining approval from UNT’s institutional review board, the act of research, the
analysis, and the writing of the thesis has been a learning experience. There have been valuable
lessons I have learned in every phase which I will take with me to future projects. For example,
having a sound “elevator speech” that explains what you are doing and why is very important.
Several customers and employees I encountered associated anthropology with Forensic
Anthropology due in part to the popularity of the Bones television show based on the novels by
forensic anthropologist and author, Kathy Reichs. Succinctly explaining that anthropology is a
diverse field which includes the study of organizations and consumers was a regular
requirement. Some of the most rewarding and exciting parts of the research project were the
92 unexpected events such as the adoption of Shelf Scan at the research sites, the “pop-up” employee interviews, and the richness of the customer behaviors. These surprises made for interesting fieldwork and required a flexible approach to adapt to the unexpected.
It has been very rewarding to work with HPB in this capacity on many levels. I truly believe the company takes great care of its employees and customers as well as being a socially and environmentally responsible corporate citizen. I sincerely hope the research I completed for the company will contribute to their continued success. Moreover, I hope that I have honored, at least in a small way, Sol Tax’s (1952) two coordinate goals of Action Anthropology, which he defined anthropology as “ …an activity in which an anthropologist has two coordinate goals, to neither of which he will delegate an inferior position. He wants to help a group of people solve a problem, and he wants to learn something in the process” (Tax
1952:103). This research opportunity has been remarkably satisfying and challenging on both personal and intellectual levels.
93
APPENDIX A
GLOSSARY
94 • AbeBooks (Abebooks.com): “an online marketplace for books millions of new, used, rare,
and out-of-print books from thousands of booksellers around the world” (AbeBooks,
n.d.).This website is used as a price reference resource by HPB employees for Nostalgia
items and as a rudimentary appraisal tool by some customers.
• Alibris (Alibris.com): an “…online marketplace for independent sellers of new and used
books, music, and movies as well as rare and collectible titles” (Alibris, n.d.).The site is
also a co-partner concerning the management of the HPB Marketplace.
• Baker & Taylor: A third-party book distributor that HPB has partnered with to stock new
bestsellers in-store at a 20% discount off of the publisher’s price. (Baker & Taylor, n.d.)
• BookSmarter: The online division of HPB that sells more valuable used textbooks and
rare merchandise such as out of print books and media online through various websites.
• Bookworm: HPB’s computerized inventory tracking system which can locate items in the
employee’s store or the other HPB stores.
• B.W. the Bookworm: The company’s spokescharacter, which is a bookworm who
appears in promotional print materials as a cartoon character, a human being in a worm
mascot costume at community events and store openings, and as a puppet in online
promotional videos.
• Community Room: The reading and events area in larger stores, such as the N. Arlington
location.
• Distribution: The shipments of remainder merchandise bought in bulk from publishers
and retailers which are delivered by HPB’s delivery trucks weekly. This merchandise
95 receives prominent display and has special extended rules concerning the timeline of
markdown and clearance pricing.
• Donations Warehouse: A now closed part of the corporate office and flagship store (HPB
#01) which once freely distributed unsold merchandise locally to educators and non-
profit organizations.
• HPB #01: The first Half Price Books store and site of HPB corporate headquarters
currently located at 5308 E. Northwest Hwy. in Dallas, occupying 55,000 square feet in
its fourth physical location since the company’s founding in 1972.
• HPB Marketplace: An online network of individual HPB I-Store locations, HPB
subsidiaries, and independent third-party sellers which sell merchandise on the internet
similar to the Amazon Marketplace. The site is maintained by HPB through a partnership
with Monsoon E-Commerce Solutions and Alibris.com. (HPB Marketplace, n.d.)
• HPB Outlet: A discounted close-out store which has replaced the Donations Warehouse
in terms of receiving the unsold inventory from the company’s 116 stores. It is located in
Bloomington, Indiana.
• ISBN (International Standard Book Number): “The product identifier used by publishers,
booksellers, libraries, internet retailers and other supply chain participants for ordering,
listing, sales records and stock control purposes” (International ISBN Agency, n.d.)
• I-Store: A HPB store that has a publically searchable inventory online.
• Monsoon Commerce: An eCommerce software company that operates Alibris.com and
partnered with HPB to manage the HPB Marketplace. (Monsoon Commerce, n.d.)
96 • Nostalgia: The term used by HPB employees to denote the rare and collectible books,
magazines, and ephemera section.
• Open Book: The start page of HPB’s company intranet including Bookworm and external
links to helpful websites such as Amazon.com and Abebooks.com. This is often called
“the tabs” by the employees.
• QR (Quick Response) Code: a two-dimensional barcode system facilitated by mobile
device scanning first developed by the Japanese company, Denso Wave (QRcode.com,
n.d.). HPB uses QR codes in flyers and shelf talkers to link customers to promotions on
their website, hpb.com.
• Search and Ship (SAS): The process of a employee ordering an item from another HPB
location in-store for a customer using the Bookworm system to be shipped directly to
the customer’s home address.
• Section Count: The process of quickly counting the presence of customers in the various
sections of the HPB stores similar to the “section density counts” employed by Paco
Underhill (1999).
• Store-to-Store Transfer: The process of sending an item from one store to another store
within the DFW market via the Distribution delivery trucks by using Bookworm and
directly calling the other HPB store. The service is free, but can take anywhere from a
few days to two weeks depending on Distribution delivery schedules.
• Shelf I.D.: The identification number of the Shelf Tag which is displayed for the
employee in Bookworm indicating that an item has been shelved and is available for
Search and Ship (SAS) or Store-to-Store Transfer.
97 • Shelf Scan: The process of scanning SIPS barcodes in conjunction with Shelf Tag barcode
labels which will result in updating the Bookworm system with Shelf I.D.s for the
inventory.
• Shelf Tag: The actual bar-coded sticker on the shelf denoting a location used by the Shelf
Scan system which also features an abbreviated section code with a column and shelf
reference number. (i.e. WLDH 11.3 represents World History, column 11, shelf 3.)
• Shelf Talker: A printed card or sign attached to a store’s shelf to draw buyers’ attention
to a product in that shelf” (BusinessDictionary.com, n.d.). HPB uses shelf talkers to
inform customers of promotions and covey other information.
• Store Inventory Processing System (SIPS): A comprehensive database of items which was
developed by HPB from scanning the barcodes on items or typing in ISBN numbers on
older non-barcoded books. The system allows an employee to see the price others have
put on an item, how many days it took to sell the item, and what was the actual selling
price.
• Texas Bookman: The wholesale division of HPB that handles distribution shipments to
HPB stores, bulk sales of new and used merchandise to other retailers, and prints
greeting cards and journals.
• Woodshoppe: The custom shelving and fixture crafting department located in Dallas, TX.
All shelves, counters, and fixtures are built, shipped, and installed by the Woodshoppe
for new, remodeled, and existing stores.
98
APPENDIX B
ALL CUSTOMER BEHAVIORS (A-AI)
99 All customer behaviors (A-AI) Customer number Alpha Behavior 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # Code
Technology ownership and experience (A-D) A Owns a smartphone N Y Y Y Y Y N N Y Y 7 B Smartphone use at HPB N N Y N Y N Y N Y Y 5 C eReader ownership N Y N N N N N Y N Y 3 D eReader non-owner experiences N - N N Y Y Y - Y - 4 Amazon usage (E-G) E Amazon shopping N Y N Y Y Y N Y Y Y 7 F Amazon information N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 9 G Amazon reviews N Y N Y N N N Y Y Y 5 Barnes & Noble patronage (H-K) H B&N occasionally N N N Y N Y Y N Y Y 5 I B&N online (BN.com) N N N N N N Y N N N 1 J B&N last resort N N N Y N Y Y N Y Y 5 K B&N new releases N N N Y N Y N N N Y 3 HPB patronage (L-Q) L HPB is primary bookstore Y Y Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y 9 M HPB is for browsing Y Y Y Y Y N N N Y N 6 N HPB is for gifts Y N Y N Y N N Y N Y 5 O HPB shopping weekly or more N Y N N N Y Y N N Y 4 P HPB shopping multiple stores (primarily the 2 Arlington Y N Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y 9 stores) Q HPB shopping multiple stores (outside of Arlington Y N Y N N N Y Y Y Y 6 and/or out-of-market) Item acquisition, deposition, and storytelling (R-AB) R Collecting facilitated by HPB N N Y Y Y Y N N Y N 5 S Collecting facilitated by other resale shops (Thrifts, N N Y N Y Y N N Y N 4 Entertainmart, etc.) T Collecting facilitated by online sources N N Y Y Y Y N N Y N 5 U Collecting cross-format (i.e. Harry Potter books, N N Y Y N Y N N N Y 4 audiobooks, DVDs, etc.) V Storytelling – item acquisition Y N Y Y N Y N Y Y N 6 W Storytelling – bargain finding Y N Y Y N N Y Y Y N 6 X Waiting ≈ earning the item, bargain, and the Y N Y N Y Y N N Y N 5 accompanying story Y Thrift stores and related resale stores for bargains (Movie Y N Y N N Y N N Y N 4 Exchange, etc.) Z Buying multiple copies – replacement, redistribution, N N Y Y N N N N N Y 3 repurposing AA Merchandise used as decorations N N Y Y Y Y Y N N N 5 AB Public library use N N N N N N Y N N Y 2 Recommendations (AC-AI) AC Recommendations from radio N N N Y N Y Y Y Y N 5 AD Recommendations from TV Y N N Y Y N Y Y N N 5 AE Recommendations from movie viewing Y N Y N N Y Y N Y N 5 AF Recommendations from podcasts N N N N N Y N N Y N 2 AG Recommendations from websites Y Y N N N N N Y Y Y 5 AH Recommendations from print Y N N N N N N N Y N 2 AI Recommendations from friends N Y Y Y N N N Y N N 30
Total sum(# of Y answers) 13 10 20 19 15 21 16 14 24 18
100 APPENDIX C
CUSTOMER RECRUITMENT FLYER
101 HALF PRICE BOOKS CUSTOMER INTERVIEWS NEEDED
Title of Study: In-Store Event Needs and Technology Use among Half Price Books Customers
Student Investigator: Steven Wilson, University of North Texas (UNT) Department of Anthropology. Supervising Investigator: Dr. Ann T. Jordan, Professor of Anthropology, College of Public Affairs and Community Service, University of North Texas.
Purpose of the Study: You are being asked to participate in a research study about how Half Price Books customers use technology before, during and after leaving the store in the search for merchandise. This study also examines what customers would like to see in terms of in-store events and promotions. How to Participate: Please fill out the accompanying Volunteer Customer Interview Contact Information form and give it to the cashier on duty. You must be at least 18 years old to participate. The student researcher will collect the forms at the close of business on March 31, 2013. The forms will be numbered and a total of ten customers will be selected by using a random number generator. Steven Wilson, the Student Investigator, will then contact you for an acceptable time and place to be interviewed.
Study Procedures: If selected, you will be asked to answer some interview questions that will take about 60-90 minutes of your time. At the start of the interview, the interviewer will ask if you will allow the interview to be audio taped. If you do not wish the interview to be audio taped, it will not be. The interviewer will take notes instead of taping.
Benefits to Participants or Others: The project may benefit you by improving the quality of your future experiences with Half Price Books. Compensation for Participants: You will receive a $20 Half Price Books gift card as compensation for your participation immediately following the completion of your interview. Procedures for Maintaining Confidentiality of Research Records: Your identity will be kept confidential. Your interview will be transcribed and assigned a code number for identification. Your name will not be attached to the transcription. These coded transcriptions will be kept in a separate location from the consent forms and interview tapes. Only the student researcher from the University of North Texas will hear the tapes. At the end of the study (May, 2013) the tapes will be erased. While the researcher may use quotes from your interviews in their reports and publications, your name will never be associated with the quotes. The confidentiality of your individual information will be maintained in any publications or presentations regarding this study.
Questions about the Study: If you have any questions about the study, you may contact Steven Wilson at telephone number (817) 876-2145 or Ann T. Jordan at telephone number (940) 565- 3443.
Review for the Protection of Participants: This research study has been reviewed and approved by the UNT Institutional Review Board (IRB). The UNT IRB can be contacted at (940) 565-3940 with any questions regarding the rights of research subjects.
102 APPENDIX D
CUSTOMER INTERVIEW VOLUNTEER CONTACT INFORMATION FORM
103 Customer Interview Volunteer
Contact Information Form (Please Print)
Name: ______
Daytime Phone: ______
Email (Optional): ______
YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD TO PARTICIPATE.
104 APPENDIX E
DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT – CUSTOMER
105 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT – CUSTOMER
1. What is your name? Age? 2. Take me through the steps you use to find information on books and media merchandise? 3. Take me through the steps you use to evaluate books and media merchandise? 4. How do you purchase the majority of your books and media merchandise? Why? • Probe: How do you use mobile technology in buying or storing/owning merchandise? • Probe: How do you use free sample chapters from the internet or through eBook readers? 5. Take me through the steps you use to evaluate products while in the store?
6. Take me through the steps you use to find information after leaving the store?
7. Take me through the steps you use to evaluate merchandise by touch and other sensory means in general.
• Probe: While in the store? • Probe: After leaving?
8. What role does technology play when you are assisted by HPB employees? 9. Is there anything else you can tell me to help me understand how you use technology to search for and evaluate merchandise?
10. How do you feel about various in-store events and promotions?
11. What kinds of events? What kinds of promotions?
12. Can or should the two be combined? Why or why not?
13. Is there anything else you can tell me to help me understand how you view events and promotions at HPB?
106 APPENDIX F
STORE INTERCEPT INTERVIEW
107 STORE INTERCEPT INTERVIEW
My name is Steven Wilson. I am anthropology student at the University of North Texas
conducting a research project for Half Price Books involving technology use in the store. Do you
mind if I ask you a few questions about how you are using your smartphone/tablet/mobile
device today?
What kind of device are you using?
How are you using it? Why?
108 APPENDIX G
DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT – EMPLOYEE
109 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT – EMPLOYEE
1. What is your name? Age?
2. What is your role with the company?
3. Take me through the steps you use to assist customers to find merchandise? In the store?
On the phone?
• Probe: How do you use your memory? • Probe: How do you use the internet (Google searches, Amazon, etc.)? • Probe: How do you use the company’s proprietary computer systems?
4. How do customers use mobile technology while they are in the store?
5. What have customers told you about how searching for information before coming to the store? After leaving?
6. Is there anything else you can tell me to help me understand how HPB employees and customers use technology?
7. How do customers and employees feel about various in-store events and promotions?
8. What kinds of events? What kinds of promotions?
9. Can or should the two be combined? Why or why not?
10. Is there anything else you can tell me to help me understand how HPB employees and customers view events and promotions?
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