Chelsea Hello Everyone, My name is Chelsea, this is Andrea, Nick, Jacky, and Efe This semester we chose to focus on the Suffolk University Bookstore’s rental program
One of the most critical steps to implementation of a new program is awareness, interest, trial and action. If students are unaware that rental is now an option at Suffolk, the likelihood of trial an action is greatly reduced. In order to gauge awareness, students were asked where they had seen or heard of the Suffolk Universities new rental program. The majority of respondents heard or saw advertisements for the bookstore through email, flyers around campus, or from other students, and 10% of respondents had never seen or heard of the rental program. In order to gauge who both current and potential consumers are, we asked students a variety of questions pertaining to current and potential usage of the rental program which Nick will now talk to you about.
While in the first semester of operation, 44% of students have rented from the bookstore, while 56% have not. Of the respondents that have rented textbooks from Suffolk, 88% said that they would rent again. Of the respondents who have not rented from Suffolk, 54% said they will consider renting next time they purchase textbooks.
In many cases, if individuals have negative feelings towards a product or service, it is hard to engage them in a new product extension. As previously mentioned, we believed that many students had a more negative attitude towards the Suffolk University Bookstore (based on personal experiences and word-of-mouth). The data however, provided different statistical findings. The overall feelings and attitudes towards the bookstore were found to be neutral to positive throughout all categories measured. Through a more detailed analysis we found what was important to students which Jacky will now talk to you about.
Surprisingly, 59% of students do not believe that quality is more important than saving money. Since competitors have been known to offer lower prices, this can prove to be detrimental to the success of the bookstore’s rental program. Only 19% of students would rather rent from the Suffolk University Bookstore as opposed to another source. From the survey we found that the main competition for the bookstore was Chegg.com. When asked where they have rented before, 76% of students said Chegg.com
Overall, students do not have strong feelings against the bookstore, in fact the overall feelings and attitudes towards the bookstore were found to be neutral to positive throughout all categories measured. 71% agree or strongly agree that the Suffolk University Rental Program is a good option and addition to the University. The majority of students, who have rented before, would rent again, and those who have not would consider renting the next time they buy their textbooks. Email, flyers and word-of-mouth have proven to be effective means of reaching students; however there is room for improvement throughout all marketing efforts. At the end of the survey, we left an open-ended box allowing students to provide any additional comments or suggestions for improvement of the bookstore’s current book rental program. Aside from one comment, all students who contributed mentioned an issue with the high prices of the Suffolk Bookstore. Efe will now tell you about our recommendations for the Suffolk University and Barnes and Noble managers.
In order to capture their target market, the Suffolk University Bookstore and Barnes & Noble should work together to further investigate these pricing issues. If possible, a decrease in the renting price of textbooks would help to greatly increase their consumer base. Aside from pricing, the only substantial marketing efforts consisted of email, flyers around campus, and word-of-mouth. This may entail creating and implementing new marketing tactics since 10% of students were not reached by the current marketing and advertisement methods. Based on the data collected through our marketing research, we recommend that the areas mentioned above be further researched in order to fully take advantage of the possibilities the rental program can provide the University.
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