The dynamic of college stores is constantly changing based on the evolving needs of students and the growing popularity of online outlets. With digital content available for nearly all instructional materials, college bookstores are facing multiple challenges to provide the materials needed by students at a reduced cost to compete with the multiple retail sources … Continue reading
Creating a marketing plan might sound overwhelming, where do you even start? Creating a successful marketing plan requires a lot of thought, research, and eventually action. A marketing plan describes who your customers are and identifies a specific and measurable plan on how to reach them. While creating your marketing plan it’s important to outline … Continue reading
Earlier last month The New York Times published a piece focusing on transitions within campus stores. ‘As Amazon Arrives, the Campus Bookstore is a Books Store No More’ discusses a common theme we’ve seen on campuses, students are going elsewhere for their textbook purchases. This begs the questions where will students go for books and … Continue reading
Providing customers with extra items they have genuine interested in by connecting other items to their original choice is what we commonly refer to cross selling. Cross selling is a great tool to boost sales and to show off your customer service and should be implemented in your campus store. Before customers walk through your … Continue reading
Everyone knows college kids tend to be frugal. They have to spend money on rent, books, school, social activities, the list goes on. Understanding how to price items correctly expands your store revenue without shrinking their wallets. According to a University of Chicago and MIT study, nine is a magic number in pricing, inducing people … Continue reading
So you are interested in creating a marketing plan? That’s great news, we’ve discussed marketing in the past but we haven’t walked you through the implementation. Every marketing activity should be a part of a larger campaign. If your marketing efforts have failed in the past, this may be the reason. Do not just send … Continue reading
While students get ready for midterms and apple picking campus store managers should be thinking about the holiday retail season. The key to a successful holiday shopping season is early planning and consistent marketing, especially if your store has to compete against retail giants. Retailers often engage with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas festivities in terms … Continue reading
Your store, marketing, staff, and products are always communicating. Although your store and your products cannot actually talk to your customers, they can communicate a message just as well as your marketing and staff. “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” These lyrics to George Harrison’s song “Any Road” … Continue reading
Having great customer service is a major selling point for brick and mortar stores. The key to having great customer service goes beyond training; you need well trained staff that are able to represent your store well. College stores are often plagued with high turnover making the finding, hiring, and training of staff that much … Continue reading
