Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

In the college bookstore, loyalty doesn’t have to be an intangible concept that you can’t quite quantify. For a store like yours, there are few, if any, things more valuable than repeat customers who show a consistent desire to come back to you first, ahead of your competitors. Whatever their reason is – be it your wider selection, friendly service staff, etc. – your store is in a position to reward your customers for their continued loyalty, and you can dole out those rewards in a number of ways.

Our partner stores always amaze us with their innovative ideas, strategies and events. But we also understand that, sometimes, your schedule can make it very difficult to prepare for and implement them. That’s why we developed our Monthly Marketing Plans! Each month, we’ll provide you with access to new strategies you can easily implement to drive customers to your store, website, and even social media sites.

Today, MBS is known across North America as a leading wholesaler and systems developer for college stores. But did you know that before we had hundreds of thousands of titles on hand in a 350,000-square-foot warehouse, there was a time when we were just two full-time employees in an old grocery store?

“We’re never going to survive unless we get a little bit crazy”

A few years ago, Ashland University Bookstore Director Terri Hudson wanted to put something together that would involve the people in her local community beyond the school’s north-central Ohio campus. What she came up with was something called the American Girl Club, which would typically host teas for mothers and daughters around Valentine’s Day or Christmas.

The mezzanine at MBS' corporate headquarters was overflowing with sourdough bread and puns as friends, family and coworkers gathered to congratulate former Western Regional Manager for Wholesale Steve Schwarz on his retirement.

Vice President of MBS Customer Relations Sarah Shiflett has seen a lot of positive reactions over the years she's given product demos and feature presentations. She's seen smiles, she's heard applause and cheers, but she'd never seen the level of excitement she witnessed at CAMEX.

Your store needs to be innovative, diligent in reaching out to customers and as keen at studying the market as your competitors if you want to thrive.

Sometimes it’s frustrating for college stores to see their customers shop elsewhere, despite knowing the value you offer them as their on-campus store. You might say it’s downright foolish. Take advantage of April Fool’s Day to play a few harmless pranks on your students and show them why they shouldn’t shop anywhere else with the Foolish Flash Promotion!

This promotion will involve a lot of humorous shenanigans everyone can enjoy, but also gives big savings to a few lucky students and points out all the reasons your store is the best place to shop.

What do you do when you find yourself with an overabundance of a certain product? In most cases, you can either just send the surplus back or decide to get creative and find a way to make it work to your store’s advantage. That’s exactly the situation the staff at The Book Mark found themselves in, when they accidentally ordered over 300 candy bars from one of their vendors.