Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

Today’s textbook market is more competitive. College stores now competes with thousands of online sellers, from Amazon to individual sellers. This gives the student shopper hundreds — if not thousands — of options for acquiring their course materials, as well as the means to easily compare prices. One way for stores to compete is by augmenting their traditionally-obtained inventory with sourcing through the marketplace. To learn more about how new avenues of sourcing can benefit your store, check out this Q&A from President of MBS Textbook Exchange LLC David Henderson. 

Creating fun ways for students to interact with your store early on in their college experience is crucial to your long-term success. If you can establish a positive relationship from the jump, then you very well may have earned a loyal customer for the next four years, if not even further.

Few things can be as big of a deal as remodeling your store. It gives stores the opportunity to expand, offer new services and even rebrand, as well as create a general air of excitement among students and alumni who want to see the new store once it's complete. A remodel could even significantly boost sales.

Unfortunately, it can also be a big headache. Even if you time your store's renovation with subsequent construction on campus like a new student union, a complete remodel is a very expensive and time-consuming venture. Furthermore, it can interfere with your business to have entire sections of your store closed off for weeks at a time while building teams work.

Do you worry your store looks stale but you don't have the money, time or resources to do a full-scale remodel? Don't worry, you can freshen up your store's look every few years if you need to, without breaking the bank. Use these tips to give your store a face lift, on a budget.

Summer’s nearing, and the days are getting longer… and longer… and longer. Soon they’ll hit their peak, with the longest day of the year, and people will want to take advantage of each and every hour of summer they can get.

In their combined 40+ years of experience, De Azna College Bookstore Director Kelly Swanson and Foothill College Bookstore Director Romy Paule have seen a lot of change in the industry.

Take a moment and visualize your typical customer.

On any given day, who would you expect to see walk through the door? Students, coming in to pick up books, supplies or a quick snack? Or, during slower times throughout the year, maybe you and your employees interact more with faculty or staff members, stopping in on their way to their offices or during a lunch break.

If you missed our recent webinar series that gives a closer look at Arc, don't worry — MBS Systems customers can still catch it.

If you've been reading along this week, you've seen how far Foreword has come in the last half a decade — and we're just getting started.

We've spent this week celebrating how far Foreword Online has come in five years, but without our loyal readers and content contributors, we wouldn't be where we are today.

When you think of the word “registry,” what comes to mind? If you’re like most people, you associate gift registries with major life events like weddings or the arrival of a new baby. Registries are a convenient way to let loved ones know what items are needed without having to explicitly ask for them, which is why they work so well for those big rites of passage.