Ideas, information and industry news for collegiate retailers

With a busy shopping season quickly approaching, now is a good time to start reminding students why they should check out the campus bookstore for gift giving ideas. From preparing for finals to traveling over the holiday, there’s a lot on students’ minds. The college store can offer an easy shopping solution. Today, we’re going to look at reasons students should shop in your store and ways to inspire shoppers this year.

College store marketing is a must. Finding the best marketing techniques to drive online and in-store sales requires the right system tools and insight into your customers’ buying habits. At the MBS Spring Forums System Training Event, Manager of Customer Education Wayne Jones was joined by Megan Moser, Merchandise Manager, Business & Operations, University of Pittsburgh, to discuss how the MBS system helps college stores create promotional events that inspire shoppers year-round.

The importance of eCommerce for college stores has grown exponentially over the past several months. While making sure your eCommerce website it up to date and offers students the same products they can get in your store is important, it is also necessary to actively promote your site and work to engage students online. With excellent planning, your campus store can host online events with a strong return on investment and increase student engagement.

For the University of Pittsburgh Stores’ Steven Wilson, events are a powerful college store marketing tool. He manages The Pitt Shop, one of the University of Pittsburgh’s two standalone apparel stores. Situated on a main thoroughfare that links the university and downtown Pittsburgh, The Pitt Shop attracts students, faculty, staff and city-dwellers looking for the latest in Panthers attire. We sat down to talk to Mr. Wilson about marketing bookstore events for a wide range of customers.

In today’s retail world, customers have very specific expectations for service, convenience and even technology. As more traditional retailers adopt new technology and practices to improve the customer experience, consumers expect the same level of service from every store they shop with — including the campus store.

Campus store customers want personalized shopping. Research shows the demand for connected shopping experiences has never been higher among consumers worldwide. Unsurprisingly, millennial and Gen Z shoppers are the most likely to expect retailers to use data in ways that make their retail experience convenient and memorable. 

When you are shopping, does an advertisement you saw online entice you to buy more than talking to a friend who tells you about a great sale or deal they found? Probably not. Students, like any shoppers, want to know they are getting high-quality merchandise for a fantastic price, but in the world of retail marketing, everyone claims their products are the best and that they are giving you the deal of a lifetime. Naturally, firsthand experiences are easier to trust.

What if your college store had one more employee who devoted 10 more hours each week to developing your campus store's marketing plans and materials? What could your store accomplish? You don't have to spend more on staffing to find out. We have already laid the groundwork and all you have to do is implement it.

Since 2011, Foreword Online has developed complete (and completely free) marketing plans, covering: holiday marketing, charity and community outreach, unique events and sales, faculty relations plans, and more. Below, sorted by time, topic and audience, are the plans and resources you need to keep your store's marketing fresh from month to month.