Problem Space
How might we increase average order value by 15%+, improve cross-selling opportunities, enhance customer experience and product discovery through personalized recommendations to boost overall sales and revenue for Barnes and Noble’s E-commerce platform?
Problem Statement
Most Barnes and Noble’s customers pre-order / shop in person. Some customers enjoy browsing online, while others prefer to shop in brick-and-mortar stores to find what they need. They will physically browse the store and pick up products along the way, but might not be aware of additional products they might also enjoy.
According to Bloomberg, #Booktok is now a major driver for B&N’s revenue contributing 14% - 20% of Barnes and Noble’s revenue. However, there is still no easy way of getting curated #booktok bundled recommendations unless it is sold and listed as a physical bundle. At the moment, only 40% of B&N’s customers find their online personalized recommendations helpful. Consumers usually wait to speak to a knowledgeable customer service staff in-store to get curated personalized bundled recommendations. Barnes & Noble is currently the #2 in book sales only behind Amazon, but B&N does not want to engage in a price war with Amazon either.
Problem Background
Prior to the pandemic, Barnes & Noble lagged behind Amazon, the biggest bookstore with an expansive selection and competitive prices. Their remarkable turnaround was attributed to the hiring of a new CEO, James Daunt, in 2019. According to the LA Times, the new CEO implemented a series of changes that transformed the company by decentralizing decision making to store managers, eliminating promotional payments, and focusing on physical stores.
The new CEO, who revived the UK bookstore brand Waterstone back in 2011, was able to create a strong brand identity for Barnes and Noble as being a place opposite of Amazon, the opposite of what a dominant competitor in the market offers. They aimed to offer an experience that was intimate, personalized, and full of sensory delights. By embracing the opposite of their biggest competitor, they carved a niche for themselves making Barnes & Noble's business model different from that of Amazon. Having a unique strength in its 600 Brick and Mortar stores across the US, B&N sells over 190 million physical books per year and remains the largest retailer of magazines in America. The problem is their e-commerce sales are in decline.
Our solution developed would take into account B&N’s unique strengths as opposed to copying its biggest competitor and improve their online platform.
Research Insights
User Pain Points
Using Barnes and Nobles target market on an alumni platform in the United States, we identified a few different categories of prospective users and did over 5 interviews. Price points, product selections, & promotions were the top 3 universally important factors for most users. Product pricing was a pain point for 100% of the users.
Supporting Data
60% of the users we spoke with mentioned they did not find the current Barnes and Nobles personalized recommendations useful. Product pricing was a pain point for 100% of the users. But 80% are more compelled to purchase from Barnes and Nobles with a membership.
Feedback
Our preliminary user research to validate this problem with intellectuals and booktok users found that the app experience and the overall website experience are only satisfactory.
Landing on the Solution
Based on out target user’s pain points, we knew we wanted to work on the following features:
To improve personalized recommendations and AOV we will introduce an AI frequently bought together function leveraging on user’s membership data. This function will also address the product pricing pain point.
We still provide location-based coupons or extra membership points to users using NobleChat to incentivize their desire to buy in bundles. This will also attract new users to sign up for their membership.
Explanation of the Solution
After we showcased our prototype to the users, we learned that they are interested in more local deals, and bundled features, and might be more inclined to buy on BarnesandNobles.com than their biggest competitor Amazon.
Future Steps
What we learned from speaking to customers is that they are intrigued by B&N’s previous collaboration with Harry Potter. We can introduce gamification functions such as Harry Potter chats and trivia to increase user engagement by 20%.
Images – Hermoine AI
Learnings
Product Manager Learnings:
Karen Kam
Co.Lab was an amazing experience for me. My perspective of how to build a platform as a founder changed dramatically after this AI PM program. I was especially impressed with the materials and the AI application aspect of the course.
The instructors and mentors have been helpful in giving timely feedback to ensure we are on the right track. I am now able to identify customer needs with a larger business objective that a product feature will fulfil, such as the frequently-bought-together, and how one feature could increase AOV by at least 15%, and attempting to articulate what success looks like for a product, and help a team turn vision into reality.
Being able to build using V0 & bolt.dev has also been mind-blowing.
Designer Learnings:
Designer Learnings:
Jo Sturdivant
- Adapting to an Established Team: Joining the team in week 6 of 8 was challenging, as I had to quickly adapt to existing workflows, dynamics, and goals. This mirrors real-world situations where you often integrate into teams mid-project, and flexibility is essential.
- Work-Blocking for Efficiency: With only two weeks to complete the project, I learned the importance of a structured work-blocking system. This approach allowed me to manage my time effectively and meet deadlines under pressure.
- Making Data-Driven Design Decisions: Unlike my past projects, I had to rely on research conducted by others. This was a valuable experience in using pre-existing data to guide design decisions, helping me focus on the core insights without starting from scratch.
Developer Learnings:
Developer Learnings:
Vanady Beard
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As the back-end developer, I learned how important it is to create efficient and reliable systems that support the entire application. This experience also taught me the importance of optimising the database and ensuring the backend is scalable and easy to maintain.
Developer Learnings:
Stephen Asiedu
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As a back-end developer, I've come to understand the importance of being familiar with various database systems and modules. This knowledge enables me to build diverse applications and maintain versatility in my work. I've also learned that the responsibility for making the right choices rests on my shoulders, guided by my best judgement.
Developer Learnings:
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Developer Learnings:
Maurquise Williams
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- Process of Creating an MVP: Developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) taught me how to focus on delivering core functionalities balancing between essential features and avoiding scope creep.
- Collaboration in a Real-World Tech Setting: This experience taught me how to collaborate efficiently in a fast-paced tech environment, keeping the team aligned and productive, even while working remotely across time zones.
- Sharpening Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills: This experience honed my ability to think critically and solve problems efficiently. By tackling challenges and finding quick solutions, I sharpened my decision-making and troubleshooting skills in a dynamic, real-world setting.
Developer Learnings:
Jeremiah Williams
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All in all this experience was very awesome I learned that in coding with others being transparent is key
Developers Learnings:
Justin Farley
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I learned how important communication is when working with a team. Communication provides understanding, advice, ideas, and much more. While working with the product team, I’ve found that communication keeps everything flowing smoothly. Working with a team also showed me that every member brings something different to the table and we all have to work together in order to align and meet our end goal.