NATIONAL BOOK STORE

The history of National Book Store can be traced back to the 1930s. However, the company
has been formally established in 1942. Before the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during
World War II, José Ramos and Socorro Cáncio-Ramos, rented a small-corner space of a
Haberdashery situated at the foot of Escolta Bridge in Santa Cruz, Manila. With a starting capital
of ₱211 (equivalent to ₱15,047 in 2015), the Ramoses set up their first retail bookstore selling GI
novels, text books and supplies. During World War II, the store shifted to selling sold candies,
soap, and slippers due to stringent book censorship. The store experienced success but was burned
down during the 1945 Battle of Manila, rebuilt again and reverted to selling textbooks and
stationery, the opening of the rebuilt National Book Store at the corner of Soler Street and Avenida
Rizal, coincided with the first academic school year after the war. In 1948, the store was destroyed
by a Typhoon Gene but a new two storey building with a mezzanine was built to host National
Book Store.

National Book Store began selling greeting cards in the 1950s depicting Philippine subjects
to showcase local culture and traditions. The book store also launched a publishing program with
international publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hal, Lippincott, Addison-Wesley. In 1955,
the Ramoses were able to acquire a lot owned by the Guerrero family, where they erected the nine-
storey Albercer Building in 1963 which was named after Alfredo, Benjamin, and Cecilia, where a
National Book Store was hosted.

National Book Store accumulated enough capital after some several years to acquire rights
to reprint foreign brand greeting cards for the Philippine market. The book store had rights to
reprint cards by Gibson for a few years. In 1973, outbid a more established competitor for a
Philippine franchise of the greeting card brand, Hallmark.

The Ramoses children proposed expanding the scope of National Book Store, and a branch
along Recto Avenue was opened, an area often frequented by students. In the 1970s, branches were
opened in shopping malls in Makati and Cubao, Quezon City. For the next decades since the
opening of the Recto branch, the book store grew with shopping mall owners approaching the
Ramoses to set up a store inside their properties. National Book Store became one of the top 100
Philippine corporations in 1988, registering profits of $1 million on gross revenues of $34.7
million. The book store chain also became one of the Top 500 of the list by Retail Asia-Pacific,
ranking 308th in 2004.

The Ramoses children proposed expanding the scope of National Book Store, and a branch along
Recto Avenue was opened, an area often frequented by students. In the 1970s, branches were
opened in shopping malls in Makati and Cubao, Quezon City. For the next decades since the
opening of the Recto branch, the book store grew with shopping mall owners approaching the
Ramoses to set up a store inside their properties. National Book Store became one of the top 100
Philippine corporations in 1988, registering profits of $1 million on gross revenues of $34.7
million. The book store chain also became one of the Top 500 of the list by Retail Asia-Pacific,
ranking 308th in 2004. With the pending entry of National Book Store into the Philippine
Stock Exchange through the renaming of Vulcan Industrial & Mining Corp., another Ramos-
owned company, into National Book Store Retail Corp. they would now also venture into
wholesale, publishing, printing, manufacturing, and distribution.

It entered the education industry in 2017 with the launch of NBS College, its first institution
for higher learning at the National Book Store building on Quezon Avenue. By 2018, it now has
over 230 branches nationwide.

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.

Analysis:

National Book Store traced way back 1930’s but this company was formally established in
1942. Jose and Socorro Ramos rented a small corner space to start their business. With a starting
capital of 211 pesos they sell GI novels, textbooks and supplies. The store experienced success but
was burned down.

National Bookstore is the country’s biggest bookshop and office supply chain. But before it
succeed they experienced a lot of hardships and struggles in order to become the well-known
National Bookstore. It was 1942 when National Bookstore was established. The owner, Jose and
Socorro Ramos rented a small corner space to start their business with a starting capital of 211
pesos they sell GI novels, textbooks and supplies. The store experienced success but was burned
down in 1945 during the World War II but it never stopped Jose and Socorro to continue their
business because they rebuilt it again and continue selling textbooks and stationery, the opening
of the rebuilt National Book Store at the corner of Soler Street and Avenida Rizal.

It was 1950s when National Bookstore started selling greeting cards showing Philippine subjects
to showcase local culture and traditions. In 1955, the owners were able to acquire a lot owned by
the Guerrero family, where they established a nine-storey building. National Bookstore earned
enough after several years in the industry to acquire rights to reprint foreign greeting cards for the
Philippine market.

They started to expand the scope of National Book Store and opened a branch along Recto Avenue.
In 1970s they opened few more branches in shopping malls in Makati and Cubao. After the next
decades since the opening of the Recto branch, it grew to the point where mall owners approached
the Ramoses to open a branch inside their properties. National Book Store became one of the top
100 Philippine corporations in 1988, registering profits of $1 million on gross revenues of $34.7
million. The book store chain also became one of the Top 500 of the list by Retail Asia-Pacific,
ranking 308th in 2004.

In 2015, they operate over 127 branches in the Philippines. They also venture into wholesale,
publishing, printing, manufacturing and distribution.

In the year 2017, it started to enter the education industry and launched the NBS College. It was
2018 and they have over 230 branches nationwide.

National Bookstore offers a wide range of products from retail sale and distribution of books to
the sale of various school supplies. Their products are suitable for students and office workers but
they also cater kids through selling toys, coloring books and others. Adults are also catered since
there are a lot of selection of books that they are offering. National Book Store offers good quality
and affordable products with a great benefit to the customers. They offer branded school supplies
such as Sterling, Stabilo and etc. But they are also selling their own product line named Best Buy
which is more affordable than other brand which gives option to the customers to choose brands
and products that suit their tastes and budget. Filipinos rely much on National Bookstore because
it offers best quality at its best price which is one of their objective.

National Bookstore has many pricing strategies that meet the needs of their customers. They uses
the Product Line Pricing which we can see in the different brands of the same products that they
offer. Obviously, those products are priced differently and accordingly to the features that the
product has and the benefit the consumer receives.
Since National Bookstore is a well-known store in the country, their promotional strategies are not
as aggressive as compared to their competitors. But they still uses promotion to remind customers
about their presence in the market to keep their customers loyal. They also launch a loyalty
program called Laking National to emphasize their affinity to their most valued and loyal
customers. They earn points from the products that they bought and are given discounts in selected
products and privileges to avail services from their 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.