Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

If you ask us, Halloween is the holiday that has it all: You get to dress up in a fun costume, go to parties, stay out late and — the best part — it’s socially acceptable to gorge yourself senseless on candy and treats. Sounds perfect!

Many college students agree, so that makes this holiday an ideal opportunity to attract new customers to your store and encourage existing ones to come back in with a series of killer events.

On average, there's not a lot of churn among college retail administrators. If you're subscribed to Foreword and reading this blog, odds are you've been in your position for a few years — and each buyback isn't exactly your first rodeo. But whether you've done two or two dozen, it pays to get a fresh perspective. Having started in June, MBS Supply Chain Analyst Stephanie Webber is fairly new to the textbook industry in general — and she got to work her first buyback ever just a few weeks later, when she volunteered to work the University of Missouri-Columbia's summer session buy. Keep reading after the jump to see what she learned about the process, and how it relates to what she does for MBS and its partner institutions every day.

On July 15, Mizzou fans took over Busch Stadium to watch the Cardinals go up against the Marlins. This event was part of the launch of a new initiative to co-brand college sports with Major League Baseball. To celebrate the new licensing partnership, the staff at The Mizzou Store and New Era Caps offered Mizzou fans a chance to win two tickets to the game, a one-night stay in a St. Louis area hotel and three MU/Cardinals caps.

Once the last student in line has purchased their books and supplies for the new semester, investing the time for a little bit of assessment and proactive planning now can save you a lot of effort down the road.

If you’re on Snapchat, have you seen a lot of geofilters popping up on people’s stories? You know, those little graphical overlays that feature an illustration of a location or event at which the photo was taken and uploaded?

"If you build it, [they] will come."

Lilli Brooks, Corporate Marketing Representative, shares her experience from over a decade of helping college stores of all sizes tackle their individual challenges. Find out what she's learned about the importance of making connections and why it's essential to keep evolving:

Rush is upon us. You’re making sure inventory is accounted for, stocking shelves, scheduling employees for peak hours and putting out the best and brightest new items on prominent display. It’s usually hectic and stressful, but you have your method down to make things roll as smoothly as possible.

Whether they know it or not, the faculty members at your school play a crucial role in the success of your business. By implementing a few savvy strategies, you can encourage helpful feedback, establish a routine of prompt adoptions and inspire devoted on-campus ambassadors.

Foreword Online is proud of its long history of helping stores promote themselves to succeed and help students save. That said, social media can really change a lot in a short amount of time. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter redesign their users' profiles, adjust their algorithms to make it harder for businesses to reach prospective customers without paying for advertising and even do some seemingly minor things that can really change the way a business promotes itself, like change the optimized size of their profile images.