THE IMPACT OF MARKETING MIX ELEMENTS ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR IN BOOKSELLING INDUSTRY

Bookselling is a very specific field of activity, like publishing, the marketing model is transformed into a specific one in the field of entrepreneurship. The publishing business, the entrepreneurial activity of the book trade, in addition to the production and material nature, is also spiritual, social with an impact on cultural processes and even socio-political ones within the country. After all, the main product of this production is such an unusual product as a book. Any book production becomes either a product or a service in the eyes of the consumer - from an adult, regardless of the type of activity, to a child. However, there is a lot of missing information in the marketing of publishing and book sales. After all, the need to purchase books ranges from cognitive needs to the need to search for information, sometimes the motive can be entertaining. Thus, the marketing of bookselling industry can be viewed as a specific type of professional activity, with the aim of promoting book products on the international market and providing intellectual inquiries. However, the relevance of the applied marketing mix remains as a critical element for companies to grow as they adapt to the changing environment.

The study examined various features of the competitiveness and marketing strategies adopted by bookselling companies, which makes it possible to identify the advantages and disadvantages of certain representatives, as well as to identify the most successful of the strategies

The research objectives followed the examination of the relation between marketing mix elements adopted by book trade companies and their impact on consumer buying behavior. It inquired as well the tendency for consumers to be inclined buying books online and offline. The problems of marketing research, its content and functions are by no means simple and cause rather desperate disputes, both among scientists and among marketing practitioners. Therefore, the necessity of forecast appears regarding changes in the market situation in order to make informed marketing decisions. After all, marketing is on the desire to achieve consistency between the potential of the producer and the needs for the products to meet customers’ satisfaction and increase bargains.

The need for marketing research is entirely obvious. It proceeds from the fact that the management of any company, firm at the process of making marketing decisions, must choose the most effective of them, combining the maximum possible levels of efficiency and risk. By obtaining the necessary information in advance, the possibility to avoid potentially expensive mistakes before the costs become significant appears, therefore the res pond may come in a timely manner to the efforts of competitors; remove a product that is unpromising in a given situation from production, etc.

The need to develop marketing solutions in conditions of uncertainty and risk is the most important factor, which determines the need and importance of constant and active marketing research. Significant marketing research that relates to the main directions of the company's marketing policy, changes in its position in the market, etc., is best entrusted to specialized organizations that have highly professional specialists at their disposal. After all, the need for market research does not necessarily mean that a huge amount of money must be spent. It all depends on the scope of the study, which, in turn, is determined by the complexity of the tasks that the company's management needs to solve using the received information.

The concept of the marketing mix was chosen because it contains factors to improve the performance of companies. In the event of difficulties with the promotion of products, or the discovery of more effective activities to attract a large flow of customers, it is necessary to calculate and analyze all the elements. To promote products and create an effective strategy, it is necessary to choose the right marketing course to identify products and place them on the market to increase company profits and influence the solution of product marketing objectives.

A product that must represent consumer expectations and meet their preferences. The product is always the base element. The product must always be competitive, where quality is a key factor to meet the needs of the consumer. If we take the life cycle of a product separately, then there should be an understanding that each product is separated by a certain segment for which it appears on the market until the moment it ceases to be sold. Its life cycle shows sales volume indicators, where it is determined by the following stages: sales start, growth, saturation and decline. At the implementation stage, only a small increase in sales is possible, a possible loss due to the initial costs of promoting the product [3, pp. 539-541].

Value for money, where the main principle is the willingness of the consumer to pay for his needs, taking into account the availability and quality of the finish of the goods. Price always affects the success in the sale of goods. Setting a low cost will not always be a winning indicator in the turnover, however, setting a high price does not contribute to the guaranteed success of the enterprise. In such cases, it is necessary to consider the prices of competitors and the price of the expected profit, because the consumer is exploring several alternatives to the same product, and quality will play an important factor in such a case [3, pp. 664-665].

Place is represented by a platform or location with the ability to make purchases, located or in shopping centers, in stationary stores, kiosks, on websites. Here, individual consumer preferences should be taken into account. After all, the key factors will play on the availability of the product. The correct location of the goods contributes to the correct navigation in the store, the ability to manage hot and cold points of sale [3, pp. 871]. If on the example of bookstores - the genre of non-fiction will always occupy the far shelf in the back corner, because this product is a focal one, for which consumers who know their purchase come in advance. However, there will be bestsellers with eye-catching covers at the checkout counters and at the entrances to create an impulse buying opportunity.

For promotion as marketing mix element - identifying channels for product promotion and advertising to build relationships and communication with customers is considered to be necessary. An important factor will be increasing the information content of consumers at all sales cycles and sending visual messages about current or seasonal promotions. Promotion is carried out through direct marketing channels, promotions for consumers, and specialized events [3, pp. 759-764]. Books advertising takes place on the showcases of stores, on the banners, mailing for subscription, rarely appears on social medias.

People as marketing mix element is included in 5p model. It shows an involvement of employees in marketing activities, hiring and training specialists to provide services on trading floors. For the sake of meeting customer expectations and providing them with specialized product assistance, it contributes to their satisfaction and increases the chances of maintaining loyalty to the store. Each employee of the store is the face of a particular brand, they represent the entire culture of the store. In addition to the assortment, sellers need to know, in addition to the assortment, the sub-genre classification of shelves, the proper cleaning of books, information about current promotions and discounts, perform thematic calculations and timely re-evaluation of goods. However, some respondents pointed about their preferences of buying books online to avoid interaction with personnel and people in general at book purchase [2, pp. 241-247].

The most demanded type for marketing strategies will be the study of consumer behavior, where marketers study the complete portrait of the consumer, his behavior during shopping, his needs, emotional reactions, triggers and psychological reactions, including factors that influence the behavior of consumers. To meet expectations their target audience, financial capacity of the consumer and degree of satisfaction, companies need to inquire information about consumers to improve quality and develop effective development strategies [4, pp. 3-35].

The main point of studying consumer buying behavior is to determine the whole picture of socio-demographic information and analyze the consumer. In addition to collecting information on demographics, social status and behavioral characteristics, this also includes data on the frequency of purchases, consumption channels, place of purchase, and features of purchasing behavior. To optimize advertising costs and beneficial coordination with the target audience, companies need to plan and conduct effective marketing campaigns for a specific segment based on the information collected [1, pp. 74].

Marketers also use customer opportunity research to study the needs of existing customers. This includes the willingness to pay for a particular product and services on the part of consumers, their financial capabilities, expectations. Often consumers put emphasis on the ratio of quality and price. Data collection requires optimization of all trade offers.

Methodology: the most appropriate approach that can be applied in this study is deductive, because the study itself opens with the question – which marketing mix element has a significant influence on consumer buying behavior - which seeks to get more specific answers to questions after generalizations. This study aims to identify the most relevant marketing mix that has the most impact on bookstore consumers in a questionnaire designed for respondents from around the world who visit different bookstores, including their online purchasing experience. Quantitative methods provide much more scientific data, but their problem lies in the fact that they are quite difficult to apply in the context of realities.

In this study, the method of collecting primary data and for the statistical procedures was used software Statistical Package for Social Science, the questionnaire was distributed online in the social network. In the study, random sampling was selected since there was no loss of choice of the population according to the criteria, from which each individual in the population departs. The advantage of selection it comes from avoidance from classification error.

5-point Likert scale analysis was held, where for answers were selected anchor of (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree: 25 questions included in the questionnaire were based on customer evaluation of marketing mix elements at the bookselling field. The first section enabled demographic information of the respondents – their sex, age, occupational status and monthly level income, second section was for descriptive evaluation of reading behavior and had more introductive part of the questionnaire. Third section required respondents to evaluate their perception of marketing mix elements, which influence on their buying behavior; this section was divided in accordance of 5P model of Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People. The questions were asked in terms to examine perception of customers towards the influence of marketing mix factors applied at local bookshops and online experience.

Findings and results: for every company, the main interest is the effective management of marketing activities. To implement them within the framework of a market opportunity, it becomes necessary to develop an effective marketing mix strategy and successfully apply it. Two categories of books purchasers were considered in the survey – online buyers and buyers of traditional stores (35% by 75%, total number 100). The analysis reveals the most attractive elements of the marketing mix to customers of both categories, which leads the study to the usefulness for its further use within the framework of increasing the opportunities of companies - the data obtained to indicate the following: the greatest value for consumers are the books themselves, their availability, variability and content. Section of the product as marketing mix element indicated a significant impact on consumer buying behavior (p-value equals to 0.000, which is less than 0.05, showing the rejection of null hypothesis, indicating a strong relationship between product as a marketing mix element and consumer buying behavior). The frequency of purchasing stands for the strong interest of particular book or author, bright design attracts the attention; the importance of the content plays a key role. Customers value large scale of assortment, even though they would come to the traditional bookstore for the particular piece and the quality of the paper and ink. From the results of survey, low values for respondents were indicated by the price, place, promotion and people element, only a small percentage of buyers purchase books depending on their price, if there is an interest in the book itself, the price plays a secondary role in the acquisition for majority of respondents.  Despite the expectations of offered seasonal discounts or special discounts as (2+1) – respondents did not indicate it would significantly play role at their purchasing behavior. Even for those who selected the preferable type of book purchasing online passively reacted that the prices online for books are cheaper. Only few respondents pointed about preference to purchase books in soft cover due to their cheap price, though worse quality, but a bit compact design. Relatively fewer respondents noted the importance of bookstore location and atmosphere, including coffee shop availability inside. Collected findings show insignificance of impact between place marketing mix strategy (p-value is 0.254, which is greater than 0.05).

A small percentage is devoted to bookstore promotions, almost no one follows mailing lists and offers of ongoing promotions, and almost no one is interested in notifications about meetings with book authors. No significant influence appears between promotion marketing mix strategy and consumer buying behavior (p-value is 0.113, which is greater than 0.05), which shall be taken for bookselling companies on account.

In relation to the staff, there are also no significant indicators; some of the respondents deliberately avoid contact with people, preferring to purchase books online. There is no significant impact of people marketing mix strategy on consumer buying behavior (p-value=0.925, which is greater than 0.05).

It should be noted that companies are required to maintain a wide range of book assortment, including related products in order to increase financial turnover. In order to get more profit and a strong position in the market, it is important to pay attention to the existing content of books. With the support of such a strategy, companies will be able to maximize profits and attract more buyers for further development opportunities in today's market conditions.

According to the study, it can be determined the need to work on improving the visibility of existing stores and their brand names, as well as development of reading habit among a greater part of the population. It would allow customers to learn about the benefits offered by certain stores, which will develop their image. Because the most important characteristic of existing stores are books, for new stores it is necessary to work on the availability and abundance of books.

At the moment, the main problem of bookselling industry is the reduction in the amount of reading, the targeting of bookselling, the blurring of the book segment, as well as the increase in online bookselling.