Topics: Higher Ed, college retail, inventory management
Old inventory is costing your college store money. Every day merchandise sits unseen on shelves, it becomes dated. The longer it stays there, the less likely it will sell. You can either continue to let it take up valuable space, or you can form a plan to move the unwanted stock. Below are four ways you can use your unsold products to generate more sales.
Topics: Higher Ed, college retail, Marketing to Students
Everywhere you look there is another article touting the benefits of eCommerce — and it is impressive. However, brick-and-mortar stores are still going strong and shoppers’ reasons for choosing in-person shopping over online shopping remain valid, as do the reasons some shoppers prefer making online purchases. The beauty of the dilemma is that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. Not only can both exist in harmony, but they can work together to provide a better experience for the shopper and the store.
Web logging, an online diary or “blogging” is not just for hipsters sitting in a coffee shop writing about their views on politics, skinny jeans and the best beard look. It’s now a tool. A resource. A “thing.” It’s the megaphone for you to tell your customers what they need to know from the mouth of the expert: you.
Topics: college retail, retail management, college stores
You’re a college bookstore manager. A superhero. A rare breed. You’re a leader and a motivator. You make a retail environment run like a well-oiled machine. Every day you engage customers, hire and train employees, decide which items to carry, manage money, deal with sales calls, and now take on the challenges of posting to Facebook, Tweeting and taking on the “other duties as assigned.”
With the course materials industry ever-changing and recognizing a segment of her business was no longer profitable, Wartburg Store Manager and Textbook Services Director Janet Huebner saw an opportunity; replacing her trade books section with … board games.
Topics: social media, college retail, Marketing to Students
You want to grow your business and everyone wants to help; vendors are promising you the first page of Google, telling you why your customers are all listening to the radio and why television is the medium of choice for you. You have Facebook ads to think about, why internet radio makes the most sense and, before you know it, you’ve pulled out your hair and you no longer care.
Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, boasts an enrollment of just under 2,400 and no official school mascot. Deanna Casterton, Director of Luther College Book Shop, sought to change the status quo by creating and naming a mascot for her store with the Nutty Election Day Celebration.
In 2011, Facebook introduced a new messaging platform. The concept came from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg believing the electronic communication medium of the future would not be email. In 2016, the 20th anniversary of the text message, Bloomberg said 8 trillion text messages were sent.
Topics: college retail, sales strategies, customer service
You walk into a retail environment and you meet one of two types of people: the customer service professional or the sales professional. Which ones work in your store? Which do you prefer? How can you have the best of both worlds?
Topics: college retail, retail management
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.
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