Brand Strategy Case Study: Barnes & Noble
In 2012, Barnes & Noble was not doing well. Internally, they were struggling, and externally, they were surrounded by aggressive competition from all sides. Things looked bleak.
However, in 2019, they installed a new CEO, James Daunt. By 2022, they had made a turnaround, opening 16 new stores with plans to double that number in 2023.
So, what change did Daunt bring? In a word: strategy.
Last resort.
Before James Daunt took over, Barnes & Noble was trying to be all things to all customers. As a result, they failed to deliver a singular promise to a specific customer. They began to offer everything—food, toys, games, trinkets, eBooks, low-quality books—except for what book lovers crave most.
Without a strong strategy to guide them, Barnes & Noble lacked clarity on who they were serving. The experience deteriorated, stores suffered, and customers lost interest.
Read the room.
Good strategy works by focusing energy and resources on a single pivotal goal. The accomplishment of that goal leads to a cascade of positive outcomes. But it all starts with a clear diagnosis of the primary challenge.
Daunt's diagnosis: digital bookselling had made it easier for the consumer to buy books but harder for them to discover new authors and great reads. From that conclusion, his strategy was formulated. B&N would become the best place for book lovers to discover amazing books. Everything else would become secondary.
Turn the page.
What’s amazing about a clear strategy, is that tactics become obvious and decisions get easier to make:
B&N stopped discounts and promotions because Daunt believed that pricing shouldn’t devalue the product.
Daunt didn’t want partnerships to control the customer experience so they refused promotional money from partnerships. This shifted featured books from publisher control to customer demand.
Daunt empowered individual stores to make decisions. Now free to make decisions for the customer, stores could provide titles that fit cultural or geographic preferences.
Daunt asked employees to “weed out the rubbish” and give the best books the placement they deserved. He refused to dumb-down store offerings.
They crafted the customer experience for best-fit customers. Environments were upgraded to cultivate an environment for minds that crave to be fed.
Break new paths.
Building a thriving business (or fighting irrelevance) demands more than best practices. The most successful paths are often new and untried.
Consider these key questions…
What is the single largest obstacle you face? Your answer will be buried under many layers—don’t stop until you’ve identified this challenge.
How will you apply your organization’s strengths to bear against this challenge?
How will you focus your resources on this challenge? Will you be brave enough to ignore other battle fronts to make a breakthrough in the one that matters most?
The best strategies are simple but rarely easy. Like most things in life: patient, sustained effort yields success.
