Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, baby boomers, the silent generation: is there really a difference between these groups when it comes to shopping? Every generation wants a good experience that is convenient. Everyone wants to feel like they are purchasing a quality product at a good price. It is unlikely a customer of any age will come into your store and demand a terrible experience or complain that they didn’t have to wait long enough to be helped. Core consumer expectations don’t vary all that much from generation to generation. So why does Gen Z research matter? Why does your store need to understand today’s students and their motivation?

What’s the biggest retail shopping day of the year? It’s not Black Friday. Actually, December 23^rd and Super Saturday (the last Saturday before Christmas) have replaced Black Friday as the busiest shopping days of the year, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the entire holiday season from Thanksgiving through the New Year is primed with shoppers who are ready to spend their money on bargains. But, how can college stores take advantage of this annual gluttony of consumerism?

Good faculty relations are critical to collegiate retail success. Of course, you need cooperation from educators when it comes to adoptions, but, far beyond that, faculty evangelists can boost your store’s campus profile and its bottom line. In marketing-speak, an evangelist is someone who spreads enthusiastic word-of-mouth about your store and services — and they do it for free.

These days many college stores are joining the fight against student anxiety. Searching for ways to offer students more than just a place to shop, collegiate retailers have found numerous innovative strategies   — from hosting de-stress events to bringing in therapy dogs — for reducing stress among college-goers. Those who invest in promoting student well-being know it’s a worthwhile effort: students’ outsized anxiety not only precipitates other health concerns, it interferes with academic success, driving some out of school altogether. Most higher education institutions are aware that anxiety is a problem. What’s less obvious is why.

In the changing educational landscape, colleges and universities need ways to improve the student experience, increase retention rates and revenue, and meet the student demand for a more affordable college education. The bookstore can play a significant role in supporting your institutional mission and helping students achieve long-term success.

College stores are a misunderstood part of campus. Tasked with supporting students and generating revenue, stores are caught in the middle of two conflicting goals. For those who don’t live and breathe the industry every single day, it’s easy to lose sight of how the store enhances day-to-day campus life and all it does to help students, faculty and the school. That’s why it’s important to share more of what you do to enhance affordability and student life with the campus community.

The image many of us create in our minds when we think of a college freshman is an 18-year-old student fresh out of high school who is financially dependent on her parents and unmarried with no children. This student attends school full-time, lives on campus and joins organizations to get more involved. However, that isn’t reality for most of today’s students. On many campuses today, the nontraditional student is the new normal.

“Print is dead.”

“Digital will never last.”

Everyone has an opinion about the print vs. digital debate. Facts and figures can be quoted for both sides, making a compelling argument for each. The cost of print can be too much for students to shoulder. Retention is harder to achieve with digital. Back and forth, the argument can go on forever because the truth is neither platform is inherently bad or good. Both have unique pros and cons that make the decision about which one to choose nearly impossible.

As spring rolls in course material adoptions come back to the forefront of concerns. Finding ways to communicate the importance of early adoptions to faculty can be a challenge. Are you doing enough? Are you doing too much? Students, faculty and college stores benefit from working together. Finding that happy medium where the faculty is informed enough to understand the importance to the student and the store, but does not feel harassed about the subject requires finesse. Here are four best practices when building professional relationships that will create a lasting rapport.

Students continuously cycle through campus, but is one group of students really that different than the next? According to generational research, yes. Each generation has different expectations, goals, preferences and views of the world. Gen Z is no exception. Even down to social media habits, this group distinguishes themselves from their millennial predecessors. Understanding Gen Z’s relationship with social media and retail will help you improve the way your store uses social media to connect with the students on your campus.