Mary’s Books

Project Proposal
Research and Devlopment for Retaining Independence

Submitted to Mary Adams

March 3, 2018

risoph
Consulting
Sustaining Business Independence
1776 Indepence Ave, Oak Park, IL, 60302
(312) 998-7172
 Mary’s Books Proposal - Ariosph - 2

Your Independent bookstores are integral pillars in a community; they provide unique services and
create personalized spaces for people, young and old, to grow in their love of reading together.

Situation These environments are rare in today’s world and must be vigilantly protected.
Mary’s Books has been such an environment for Oak Park and its citizens for twenty-five
years and counting. With patience and perseverance, Mary’s Books has grown from a single-
store business into a prosperous keystone of the community, satisfying the needs of any reader
in Oak Park area and Chicago in general. It has grown beyond its original establishment in the
historic Marshall Field’s building to include two satellite stores, bringing together new people in
different parts of Oak Park.
Mary’s Books has fostered a communal identity through many years of hosting events such
as book signings and reading programs for children. Additionally, Mary’s three locations have
become meeting areas, where a free flow of ideas and discussion on everything from local
and national events to global trends has become the norm. Mary’s Books offers meaningful,
specialized service to its customers, who find new books and friends, becoming part of the Oak
Park community.
Mary makes it her business to create a close-knit, intimate atmosphere in all her stores, where
anyone is welcome to come and connect. Her store is the epitome of why independent, locally
owned stores are more powerful in bringing people together than big-box national chains.
This prosperity, for the store and for the surrounding community, has recently become a
matter of concern with the arrival of Barnes and Noble. This titanic corporation, with its national
reach and resources, has torn down the local Art Modrene landmark to build a parking lot for
their store, which is just one block away from Mary’s flagship store. The incursion of Barnes
and Noble could prove to be a competitor in the market, affecting not just the bookstore, but
also the Oak Park community at large. A legacy of independence and communal togetherness
has been called into question.
Barnes and Noble has made several offers to purchase Mary’s business. The offers show
something no national brand can admit: local, established bookstores have influence in a
community that the big brands cannot hope to match. Such stores sell the independent and
unique experiences they can grant customers—an experience national chains can’t necessarily
replicate or replace.
Questions emerge with these developments: Is Mary’s Books in direct competition with
Barnes and Noble? Will Barnes and Noble affect Mary’s customers and the Oak Park community
beyond just the destruction and remaking of landmarks? Where is the market headed for
bookstores? And—most important—what should Mary’s Books response be to all of this?
Given the pressing situation, you, Mary, have to make a swift, informed decision about how
to address this potential affront to your business and the community. While other consulting
firms have been brought to the table, they can’t offer the same level of care and versatility that
Arisoph can. We will efficiently and effectively resolve the challenge that has come to Mary’s
Books.
 Mary’s Books Proposal - Ariosph - 3

Our Our goal is to provide you with the information necessary to make the best decision for Mary’s
Books. To do this, we will focus on two stages of development:

Objectives Stage One: Research and Experience

To fully understand a situation, one must experience it. To this end, Arisoph will focus on
proven qualitative and quantitative practices to determine where Mary’s Books has excelled in
the past and where it’ll excel in the future. Our team will take in the experience of Mary’s Books
and objectively research various potential paths the store can take, so as to best merge research
and experience.

Stage Two: Implementation

As stage one develops, and in conjunction with Arisoph management, an implementation
team will be formed to meet the needs of each pathway presented; this way, we’ll be able to
immediately support the decision that you make.

Our Personal development is at the forefront of Mary’s Books. Knowing this, we hope to absorb that
philosophy by combining both objective research with personal in-store experience. To preserve

Methods the atmosphere of Mary’s Books, our research will be completely unobtrusive.

stage one Research and Experience

This stage has three major objectives:
»»Evaluate current business practices for areas of excellence and possible areas of
improvement
»»Objective research of other, similar cases
»»Cost-benefit analyses of current potential pathways for the store

Objective Evaluate Current Business Practices for Areas of Excellence and Possible Areas of Improvement
one Mary’s Books has provided a close-knit, intimate environment for the community. To
determine how Mary’s Books has achieved this so as to know what business aspects would be
best to amplify or improve, our team members will complete the following:
»»Each of our team members will spend a couple hours in each store (one at a time so as
not to impede the flow of business) to understand and have experience with the unique
environment of Mary’s Books. This will inform their second task of evaluating current
store layouts, day-to-day in-store practices, and other related subjects related to store
operation. After team members have completed their evaluations, they’ll create a report
of their experiences, including proposed solutions. Once created, the team will meet
with you to discuss said solutions for enhancing or improving in-store environments.
These reports will be delivered within one week of proposal acceptance.
»»Our accounting specialist, Stirling Miller, will work directly with Jessie Smith to
draft a current profit-cost analysis of each store to determine if expansion or
shrinking is a viable option. This report will be performed concurrently alongside the
qualitative experience reports to give financial context to all solutions in said reports.
This report will be delivered within one week of proposal acceptance.
 Mary’s Books Proposal - Ariosph - 4

Our »»Our team of will perform an appreciative inquiry of Mary’s Books current customer base
to achieve three goals:

Methods 1. To understand the customer-level experience, especially that of loyal and returning
patrons
2. To gather experiences that will aid in marketing research and development, discussed
further in Objective Three
3. To survey customer reactions to the new Barnes and Nobles location
This inquiry will be conducted over a three-week period after the proposal
acceptance so as to make the inquiry as non-intrusive as possible.
After these three tasks, our team will be personally connected to the communal environment
of Mary’s Books while providing an objective third-party evaluating perspective.

Objective Objective Research of Other, Similar Cases

TWO Mary’s Books has a legacy of working with other small, independent business. In that spirit,
our team will reach out to the other independent stores that have been threatened or recently
destroyed by large, nationwide booksellers. Our team will do the following:
»»Develop four case studies based on other independent bookstores that faced a similar
challenge that Mary’s Books now faces. Two cases will be based on stores that continued
to remain profitable two years after the introduction of the nationwide chain location
near them. The other two cases will be based on stores that failed within the same two-
year period. Each study will consist of the following elements:
»»An interview with the founder of each business or with the managing director of
each during the introduction of the nationwide chain
»»A cost analysis of each business based on reported sales and store specialties
»»An evaluation of community involvement, including marketing, community events,
and other services
»»An evaluation of all actions taken, especially those related to marketing, during the
time that the nationwide chain came on the scene.
These case studies will be delivered within a month of the proposal acceptance.
Each case study will provide insight into your current situation, as well as inform our team of
other options that have been tried, so that we’ll be able to submit only the best possible paths
for your approval.

Objective Cost-benefit Analysis of Current Potential Pathways for the Store

Three You, as owner, have the best understanding of what Mary’s Books is capable of. As such, you
have suggested some options while our team has suggested others. Our team will explore these
possibilities so as to provide both specific yet varied choices for you to consider. Our team will
provide the following:
»»Based on the financial report from Objective One and the case studies from Objective
Two, our team will do a different cost-benefit analysis for three potential options:
1. The expansion of Mary’s Books to additional locations
2. The renovation of current stores
3. The possibility of oing both
This report will include location analysis of available buildings, renovation designs for all
three vcurrent locations of Mary’s Books based on the experience reports from Objective
 Mary’s Books Proposal - Ariosph - 5

Our One, and a report providing the best combination of the two options. This analysis will
help determine what options Mary’s Books has, based on the available capital.

Methods This report will be submitted one week after the completion of Objective One.
»»Based on all reports generated in Objectives One and Two, our marketing team will perform
a cost-benefit analysis for the development of marketing strategies based on locally available
and Internet marketing opportunities. Additionally, the team will design elements of said
marketing strategies to provide a consistent vision for Mary’s Books’ potential campaign.
This report will be completed one week after the completion of all other reports.
These two reports will explore the options you suggested and provide you with a sample of
our team’s potential for later implementation.
While each objective will produce reports that are directly delivered to you as the research
develops, all deliverables will be combined to create a single report that will be delivered no later
than one-and-a-half months after proposal acceptance.

stage two Implementation

Our team will constantly report its findings to both you and the Arisoph managing director.
The managing director and team leaders working on your situation will prepare teams that would
best benefit each available option suggested in the reports. In this way, we will stand at the ready
for your ultimate decision on how to act in the current situation.

Our We have built our business over the past twenty-nine years by working with individuals and
businesses such as yours. We decided to primarily assist independent, smaller businesses because

Qualifications we deeply value what they offer their communities. We have specialized experience with helping
such businesses to grow; Arisoph started small, and we recognize the importance of maintaining
a competitive edge with larger businesses.
Over the years, we have collected recognition for our services from several businesses we
have helped. The Dunder Mifflin Paper Company was one of our favorite experiences. We
helped them research and come to the right decision over their concerns with paper sales in a
world that is becoming increasingly digitized. They recognized our research abilities with their
Best Researchers Dundee Award.
We understand the principles involved in growing a company, creating stability, and competing
in an uphill market. These principles and our experiences will go into our research for your
particular situation. We’re known for our attention to detail and for the specialization of our
research to our immediate client, because no matter how similar two situations may seem,
experience has taught us that none are exactly alike. We’ll work for you as we have worked with
eFoods Global, as they became the number-one savable gourmet foods company in the world,
but our methods and personnel will be tailored to your unique situation.
The members on our research team have been working with us for many years and are
veterans in their fields. Our research methods have been tried and proven with many independent
businesses like yours. We can’t wait to work with you.

Your Heading the team is Kelsea Jones, a graduate of the University of

arisoph team Pennsylvania, who got her MBA in business management. She has worked
on many of our company’s projects and began heading them in her third
year working with us. She is the youngest team manager we’ve ever had. Her
work has always been outstanding in terms of efficiency and accuracy. She
now runs our best team, who will be in charge of taking care of your needs.
 Mary’s Books Proposal - Ariosph - 6

Our
Stirling Miller is our marketing specialist. He is a Columbia graduate, with
an MBA in business marketing and accounting. He has been with Arisoph

Qualifications for twenty-five years, and his innovative thinking and creative vision have
revolutionized our marketing process to fit the needs of clients.

Kevin Haws is our data and research specialist. He graduated from UCLA
with a master’s in marketing research and analysis. He has worked in his
field for thirty-six years, and we were lucky enough to have him start
working for us about ten years ago. He is our top data specialist.

Our Our team and business are devoted to cost effectiveness in a timely manner. See appendix C for
Budget details on the budget outline and a list of possible fees.

yOur We are committed to providing maximum benefits with our cost effectiveness and services. As
we implement our objectives and methods, you can expect your business to not just survive this

Benefits development with Barnes and Noble—it will thrive and grow. The reach of Mary’s Books will
be solidified, continuing to serve as a pillar of the community, standing tall and strong for years
to come.
The unknown can be a fearful obstacle. Uncertainty of the future (caused by Barnes and
Noble’s arrival) could harm the morale of employees—and therefore customers. By clearly,
objectively understanding more fully what works best and will work best in your business, you
can expect decisive action and thus increased confidence from all who depend on Mary’s Books
for a sense of community and personal development.
You can also expect assurance of longevity and legacy. Knowing the options available to you
for the future of Mary’s Books, you will be able to make an informed decision on where to take
your store next and thus rest easier, knowing you’ve made the best decision available.
Our team and resources will be adapted to whichever plan of action you decide for your store
and business. Working together with us, you can expect successful resolution to any issues or
concerns that may compromise the profitability and place of Mary’s Books in Oak Park.
Thank you for your consideration of Arisoph. It has been a pleasure to meet you and to get
to know your business and your community better. We look forward to hearing back from you
regarding our proposal. Please contact the team manager, Kelsea Jones, at (312) 465-6468 with
any questions, concerns, or suggestions.
We appreciate this opportunity to work and develop a relationship with Mary’s Books, a
bedrock of Oak Park and its great people and community.