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 ..................................................................................................