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Homeschooling Momvertising Media Opps: Books-A-Million launches free curbside pickup service

In an effort to expand its buy online, pickup in-store service, Books-A-Million (BAM) debuted a curbside pickup option that will likely become very popular among consumers practicing social distancing due to the pandemic. The new, free service allows users to shop online, let the store know when they arrive and be handed their purchase directly by an associate. Post-purchase emails and text messages provide users with status updates of when orders become ready for pickup, along with contact information to alert the stores upon arrival. Obviously, many Americans will still likely opt for safer options such as e-readers and audiobooks, but this service will be a big help for people who can't get enough of physical paper books as well as newly homeschooling parents.

According to Adbeat, BAM's digital display ad spend typically spikes during Q4, ahead of the holiday season; from March 2019-2020, the company spent $49.6k on ads which were primarily YouTube videos on youtube.com ($33.8k). Unfortunately, this marked around a third of the $180.8k spent from March 2018-2019.

We expect spend to continue dropping as a result of the virus; however, we may see other digital channel usage (paid search, OTT and/or podcast ad space) to promote the new option. The curbside pickup service is available at most BAM stores; view locations here. Kantar data reveals that BAM also utilizes print media via newspapers. We expect it will target moms of all ages.

Agency & martech readers - Since we don't see any major signals of potential reviews, read elsewhere for now. To the best of our knowledge, O2 Ideas still handles creative.