Product National Bookstore offers a wide range of products from the retail sale and distribution of books to the sale of various school supplies. National Bookstore’s products, specifically the school supplies, are mostly aimed for the students’ and office workers’ consumption and needs. However, the customers of National Bookstore are not limited to just students and office workers. The company also caters to kids through the sale of toys, coloring books, crayons and et cetera.
Adults are also customers of National Bookstore since they avail of the various selections of books that National has to offer. Students and other consumers as well know that National Bookstore offers products of good quality and of affordable prices that are of great benefit to the consumers. National Bookstore also offers branded school supplies like Staedler, Stabilo, Cattleya, and et cetera. However, National Bookstore also offers their own product line named Best Buy which is more affordable than other brands.
In effect, National Bookstore gives the option to its consumers to choose the products and brands that suit their tastes and that fit in their wallet. National Bookstore products have become a necessity for students and office workers. So much so, that Filipinos equate and refer to bookstores as National, like how photocopying is equated to Xerox and marker to Pentel. Filipinos rely so much on National Bookstore providing them quality products that Filipinos no longer look at other bookstores in the market and instead, focus only on National Bookstore.
National Bookstore has thus become a huge and integral part of the Filipinos’ lives. Price Affordable pricing is one objective that National Bookstore has – every product is of the best quality at the best price. National Bookstore wants that students be able to afford to buy school supplies with their own allowance that is why National Bookstore’s products are priced at affordable levels, all the while keeping the best quality. Since what National Bookstore offers to the public are customer needs, the customers’ are more than willing to pay the prices set by National Bookstore.
Since consumers know that what National Bookstore offers to them are their needs, the consumers are willing to pay the prices set since using the products will maximize their utility. Luckily, National Bookstore has many pricing strategies that meet the demands of the different customers they have. National Bookstore uses Product Line Pricing which is evident in the many different brands of the same products they offer. Obviously, those products are priced differently and accordingly to the features that the product has and the benefit the consumer receives.
An example would be the school notebooks that National Bookstores sells. Some notebooks that are not branded have rough and thin leaves while other branded ones like Corona or Cattleya have smooth and thicker leaves. The prices of the two products are not the same, with the branded products having a higher price. This reflects the Product Line Pricing National Bookstore has since the better features a product has, its price should also be higher. National Bookstore also uses Bundle Pricing where it bundles products at a reduced price.
An example of this is the bundling of pens or pencils into three pieces or more for a price lower than if you buy the pens per piece. Also, when the school season is near, National Bookstore offers bundled pad paper of different sizes (size 1, size 2, size 3 and size 4 or more commonly, the intermediate, cross-wise, length-wise and one-fourth pad papers) for a lower price than if you buy the pad paper individually. Promotion National Bookstore uses many promotional strategies to communicate to their target market.
National Bookstore’s strategies hinge on the fact that their brand is already well-known in the country. Although their promotional strategies are not as aggressive as compared to other companies in other industries, National Bookstore still uses promotions to further remind their customers of National Bookstore’s presence in the market and to keep their customers loyal to the brand. National Bookstore uses a loyalty program called Laking National to emphasize the affinity of the company’s brand with its most valued and loyal customers.
Laking National was created to retain National Bookstore’s most valuable customers and to provide additional value for the business they have given National Bookstore over the years. Members of the Laking National program earn points from the products they buy and are given discounts on selected items, privileges to avail of services from partner agencies. National Bookstore also takes advantage of seasonality of their sales, especially during the months May and June where demand for school supplies is high.
The company heavily promotes during this period by using sales promotions and giving special offers like bundling of goods such as pad paper and pens. Lastly, National Bookstore operates and has its own website (http://www. nationalbookstore. com and http://www. nbsstores. com) where customers can visit and get information regarding the many products and services the company offers. The website, http://www. nationalbookstore. com is powered by myAyala. com, which is the largest online shopping mall in the Philippines. The partnership between myAyala. om and National Bookstore makes it easier for National Bookstore to conduct business online and to let customers who are not able to visit their stores to still order books from them. Place The 87 branches of National Bookstore are mainly located in shopping malls scattered all over the country. Some stores are located near schools and colleges for the convenience of the brand’s target market which is the students. Within the shopping malls, most of the National Bookstore outlets are located at the first floors of the malls. National Bookstore also makes use of an online shopping mall with the help of its partner, myAyala. om which is the largest online shopping mall in the Philippines. National Bookstore’s products, thus, are not confined to the buildings of their branches, but can now also be availed of using digital or online shops. Bibliography (n. d. ). Retrieved March 2010, from Welcome to Learnmarketing. net: http://www. learnmarketing. net/ NBS – About Us. (n. d. ). Retrieved March 2010, from National Bookstore Corporate Website: http://www. nbsstores. com/about. asp? article_id=1 NBS – About Us. (n. d. ). Retrieved March 2010, from National Bookstore Corporate Website: http://www. bsstores. com/about. asp? article_id=4 NBS – Laking National. (n. d. ). Retrieved March 2010, from National Bookstore Corporate Website: http://www. nbsstores. com/lakingnational. asp NBS – Products & Services. (n. d. ). Retrieved March 2010, from National Bookstore Corporate Website: http://www. nbsstores. com/products. asp ——————————————– [ 1 ]. http://www. nbsstores. com/products. asp [ 2 ]. http://www. nbsstores. com/about. asp? article_id=4 [ 3 ]. http://www. nbsstores. com/about. asp? article_id=1
