In 2011, Utah Valley University Bookstore made a brave choice: It transitioned from a locally-owned POS to an MBS Systems POS amid a rapid increase in student enrollment. Since then, MBS’ support and technology has allowed it to grow and develop along with the student population.
Panola College Store Director Rebecca Courtney has a proven retail strategy: She listens and learns. She wants to ensure the college store serves as what she calls “a one-stop shop” for the 2,500 students at the Carthage, Texas community college. It offers everything from textbooks and pens to cappuccinos and keychains, but Courtney hasn’t stopped there. She maintains an ongoing dialog with customers that keeps her informed about students’ wishes.
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For Titan Store Director of Retail Services Tony Sanjume, watching sales data, mining the numbers and thinking strategically about merchandise trends are critical to staying current among Lane Community College’s 8,000-plus students. In recent years, the Eugene, Oregon store has met the challenges facing all college stores head on — launching a food division that now rivals the school supplies division in earnings.
If there’s one thing UCM University Store Director Charlie Rutt knows it’s that families new to the course materials world need guidance. Many students start school without awareness of the cost of textbooks. Rutt said that, unless families are warned, they will feel deceived when they discover how much they have to spend at the college store. It’s like being invited to a free dinner only to find out you have to pay when the check comes.
University of Central Missouri University Store Director Charlie Rutt needed no persuasion when it came to adopting the MBS POS on a Microsoft Surface Pro. When the tablet-sized register first appeared, Rutt seized the chance to increase sales with a mobile solution.
“There’s always that stigma of the bookstore trying to gouge the student,” said Aztec Shops’ Campus Stores Division Director Kathy Brown. Establishing customer trust has been key to the San Diego State University college store’s success.
When the new Passport Center in the University of New Mexico Bookstore launched with a “soft opening” in April, a few weeks before its grand opening in May, no one was sure how much business it would attract. The UNM Global Education Office, which runs the center in partnership with the bookstore, kept hours and staff to a minimum.
A global ransomware attack raises awareness about cybercrime, but a less-publicized scam is likely to impact students more: phony third-party sellers on Amazon that snag credit card information and fail to ship promised goods.
The retail layoffs started last year, as business journals projected job losses on a scale not seen since 2010. Then, in January, Macy’s and Sears announced hundreds of stores would be shutting down. Even Wal-Mart has shown it’s not immune. The retail behemoth announced in the same month it would cut roughly 1,000 jobs.
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