Retail Store Strategy

Kinokuniya's Retail Store Strategy

Target Market:
Kinokuniya first opened in 1983, with it being a Japanese bookstore targeting mainly the Japanese community residing in Singapore; however a lot has changed since then.

Kinokuniya Singapore’s flagship store, the Kinokuniya Singapore Main Store, targets book lovers from all over the island with books imported globally including English, Japanese, Chinese, French and German publications from different countries at reasonable prices, therefore being able to attract all book lovers in Singapore.

With its strong affiliation with things Japanese, from its design to merchandise range to its ambience, Kinokuniya Liang Court has turned into a favorite place for “otakus”, meaning catering mainly to consumers with a love for Japanese products and culture.

Kinokuniya Bugis Junction carries a comprehensive range of books in categories such as comics, travel, language, new age, leisure, etc, appealing to a younger crowd of mostly young executives and students.


Retail Format:
Kinokuniya is a Speciality store selling a wide assortment of books in Japanese & English!

Retail Mix:

Merchandise- Assortment and variety

Kinokuniya have a variety of books, stationary, cd-roms etc and under each individual category they have different genres of the books - example, self-help books, movie books, japanese manga etc.

Service:

They have an online booking service bookweb pro where consumers can order their favourite books

http://www.kinokuniya.com.sg/sso_usingbookwebpro.html

They also have the Singapore Sales Office (SSO) where it strives to be a one-stop "Professional Total Library Supplier" that services all libraries and organisations in Singapore as well as in the region with the latest in Books, Journals, Electronic Materials and Audio-Visual Resources from international publishers around the world in English, Chinese, Japanese, French and German.

other services:

Kinokuniya has gift wrapping services.

Store design:

They have a clear and clearly categorized store design which makes it easy for shoppers to look for what they need.

Location:

There are 3 outlets in Singapore-

The main store is at Orchard road Ngee Ann City, and the other two are at Liang court and bugis junction.

Pricing:

Kinokuniya give very competitive pricing to compete with surrounding competitors like Borders, times, popular etc.

Positioning:

Bases for Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage:

Location

Overseas:

• Japan
• USA
• Thailand
• Taiwan
• Indonesia
• Australia

Singapore:

• Singapore Main Store @ orchard road
• Liang Court Store @ river valley road
• Bugis Junction Store @ victoria street

Althernatively, you can also buy your book at Kinokuniya's online store.

Information System

• Useful Book web Tool at the top right hand corner of the Kinokuniya website where you can seach your favourte book and buy the book online (Up to 500 000 titles)

Advantages:

• No more long wait

Customers do not have to go to the physical store and take a long time to find their books and save the hassle of queueing. You can just order the books online and it will be deliver to you at the next working day.However there will be a minimum fee for the delivery.

• no feight Charge

Customers will get their book in the shorest time possible with most the oversea order delivered by air.

Exclusive Merchandise

The collections are imported form japan and you cannot find them at any part of other stores except from kinokuniya. Japanese magazine/stationary etc

Customer loyalty

As a kinokuniya privilege card 's member, the member is entitled to 10% all year long.

The card is applicable to all Kinokuniya's outlets and online purchase. Members will also be invited to special events and promotion organized by Kinokuniya Singapore and preferrd partner.

Other privilege are like

• 10% off on all Singapore Symphony orchestra's subsciption concery (categories 1-3)
• 10% off on all Singapore Chinese orchestra's regular concert tickets
• 15% off on all Singapre lyric opera's regular concert ticket
• 10% off on all National Book Development Council of Singapore's centre for literary arts and publishing courses.

For more information on the T&C
http://www.kinokuniya.com.sg/card_about.html

Done by: Stacie, Jin Jing, Cynthia & Gerald

The Retailing Environment

Retailer:KINOKUNIYA SINGAPORE (きのくにや)
Kinokuniya Singapore's book business in Singapore began with the opening of our first bookstore at Liang Court in 1983 for the Japanese community residing in Singapore.

Kinokuniya Singapore's flagship store - Kinokuniya Singapore Main Store (SIMS) stands at a massive 43,000 sq. ft., providing an extensive collection of over 500,000 quality titles from all over the world, including English, Japanese, Chinese, French and German publications. It is a distinct cross-cultural hub with a wide range of multi-cultural events, such as ikebana, comic art demonstrations, language learning workshops, book launches, etc. held since its opening on 8th August, 1999.

Adopted for educational purposes from:
http://www.kinokuniya.com.sg/corp_about.html

Variety & Assortment:

Variety	Assortment	Types
Books	Antiques/ Collectibles
	Architecture
	Art
	Bargain
	Bibles
	Biography/ Autography
	Blank books/ Journal
	Business/ Economics
	Calendar
	Career/Job
	Childcare/ Parenting
	Children	Babies, Toddler, Pre-School, High School
	Cinema/ Film
	Computer	Operating systems, Desktop Publishing, Word Processing, Languages, Database, General, Spreadsheets, Software
	Cooking
	Crafts and hobbies
	Decorating
	Diet/Nutrition
	Do-It-Yourself
	Education
	Family/ Marriage
	Fantasy
	Fiction
	History	American Military, World Military
	Horror
	Humour
	Language
	Large print
	Literary Criticisms
	Literature	Classics, Folklore and Mythology
	Music
	Mystery/ Suspense
	Nature/Ecology
	Performing Arts/Dance
	Philosophy
	Photo	Essays, Techniques
	Plays
	Poetry
	Politics
	Psychology
	Reference
	Recovery
	Religion/Ethics
	Romance	Regence, Gothic, Historical, Modern, Mathematical
	Science
	Self-help
	Sociology
	Sports
Stationary	Pens
	Pencil
	Paper
	Glue
	Notebooks
	Notepads (Japan)
Origami	Japanese Paper for folding

Challenges:

1.Economic Downturn 2008:

Due to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis in America in 2008, falling housing prices have eroded the ability of homeowners to borrow against their property thus threatening their ability to spend freely. Concerns about tightening consumer spending have prompted businesses to slow hiring, limiting wage increases and in turn applying the brakes anew to consumer spending.

As Singapore's economy is still uncertain as spoken by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his rally 2009 "the outlook beyond that is unclear". Hence, Singaporeans would tend to not dare to spend and tighten their pockets for the worst to come.

As a result, singaporeans would tend to buy books from bookstores such as Kinokuniya and Borders lesser and would resort to borrowing books from the National Library to cut their living expenses.

Adapted Source from PM Rally 2009: PM Lee's National Day Rally Speech 2009

2.Price Competiton from Direct Competitors

As Borders and Prologue are bookstores like Kinokuniya, they could price the same products that Kinokuniya is selling at a much cheaper price. Therefore, consumers would choose the cheapest pricing of the three competitors. Hence, Kinokuniya could be facing harsh, direct competition as its competitors are located nearby and it may be a huge challenge to differentiate itself from them. Eg. "Men In White" book prices.


Price at Kinokuniya: $42.70

Price at Borders: $45.90

Discussed By: Stacie, Cynthia, Gerald, Jin Jing

Picture taken by: Justin