Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

Generation Z students have set themselves apart from millennials and Gen X in more ways than just their comfort-level with technology. The young, pragmatic generation’s attitude about education and debt is changing the educational landscape. Here’s what you need to know.

Retail markets have peaks and valleys in customer traffic. Turning the slower months into growth for your college store can be the difference between an average year and a great year. However, this is easier said than done. Start with developing a plan for the slower months. Sometimes the tried-and-true events work best. People know what to expect and how everything works. That same familiarity, though, can be an antithesis of excitement. This year, embrace change and do something you have never done before.

Whether you are speaking to faculty, students or alumni, email can increase engagement and drive your desired outcome. However, you need an effective strategy to ensure your emails are opened. The time of day, the day of the week, length of your subject line, whether the message is rich or plain text, all contribute to the likelihood of your message being opened. Today, we’re going to go over the best practices you can easily implement to boost your email engagement.

Imagine this: It is homecoming. The parades are on, the crowds are dense and the beer is flowing. You and six of your best associates are each armed with a Microsoft™ Surface Pro Mobile POS. In the past, you would have been forced to accept cash payments only for spirit wear. Now you can accept all tenders — even student cards and financial aid — right there at the parade. You no longer have to wait for the crowds to come to you. Your store taps into the school excitement on-the-spot.

Course materials play a pivotal role in student success. Whether or not students have their materials by the start of class can have a significant impact on their ability to keep up with the course. It also affects how teachers are able to do their job. How have the recent changes in the educational landscape influenced course materials and students’ expectations?

Looking back, the things I told students about the value of books were way too abstract. When I was a teacher, I didn’t realize that the cost of course materials had soared in recent years. I didn’t know many students opted out of buying required books altogether. I thought they simply believed they could do well in an English class without reading — and I had all kinds of theories about why they dismissed reading assigned literature as unimportant. In some ways, I might have been right, but, in others, I was flat-out wrong.

We talk a lot about customer service because we believe that relationships are an important part of business. Anyone can talk a good game for a short period of time when they want something, but day in and day out dedication is rare. Real connections between businesses take more than an email or single sales call, and that’s what MBS Wholesale provides. When we welcome a new partner school they become part of our family — their success is our success.

College stores are caught between two worlds: education and retail. Maintaining retails sales is imperative to the success of the business, but so is being a part of the campus community and building student trust. Finding balance between the two can be a challenge, but one way to accomplish this is to rebrand your college store as a retail destination — a place students want to be and spend time. Making small changes to the store environment can make the space more inviting to students and encourage them to spend more time within your walls.  

Many big box retailers do it: They don’t just engage in price matching, they price match with Amazon. Some will let you take your discount at the register. Others will throw in free shipping if you demonstrate that the eCommerce behemoth has a lower price on the same product of the same brand. Still, college stores face a different set of challenges from traditional retailers. Should they jump on the price-match bandwagon, or are the dangers of revenue loss too great?

Building a fanbase for your college store on social media isn’t as hard as you think. It boils down to knowing how the platforms work, understanding your audience and offering a variety of content. Once you master these elements, apply consistently. Your posts can experience what I call the web effect — a reach that expands as friends influence each other’s choices. Platform, audience and variety of posts impact your reach and audience influence. Let’s break down how each of these aspects can be utilized to increase the number of students who see your posts.