ICBA President’s Update: May 2014
David Kent, President ICBA Board of Directors
ICBA and indiCo Commit to Collaboration
In my January Update I shared with you the
ongoing discussions between ICBA and indiCo toward establishing a collaborative
relationship to advance the independent college store channel. Today I am happy
to tell you that we have reached agreements with indiCo to collaborate on
several significant actions.
Last week the Executive Committee of the ICBA
Board of Directors, the Campus eBookstore Board of Directors, and the indiCo
Board of Directors met for two days in Denver. Our number one focus was the
future of independent college stores in the digital course materials market.
Following that we addressed a number of other strategic issues. At that meeting
agreement was reached for collaborative actions on the following:
Campus eBookstore
Elevating
and escalating industry development
A Joint indiCo, Campus eBookstore, and ICBA Announcement
The indiCo LLC Board of Directors has
unanimously approved a resolution to endorse Campus eBookstore Inc. as a
premier, store-centered digital content delivery platform, and further
advocates that independent college stores adopt the Campus eBookstore platform
as a store solution for digital delivery of course materials. Campus
eBookstore, Inc. (CEI) is owned and controlled by independent college stores,
was designed and developed specifically to support independent college stores,
and is managed by a set of unwavering principles that are centered on both the
store and the higher education marketplace (see below).
At industry-related meetings, and through
survey responses, independent college stores cited the high priority need for a
common and standardized platform for stores to directly sell publisher access
codes and ebooks, along with the capability for an integral store role in
supporting the course fee-based model for digital content delivery.
In addition, many stores are being asked to support the distribution of Open
Educational Resources (OER) and other faculty-generated course materials.
The ability to support all of these functions is found within the CEI platform.
By some estimates, the digital “tipping
point” for higher education course materials will occur within the next 36
months. When this occurs, college stores will need to have fully
transitioned their business practices and be in a position to support the sale
and distribution of a wide range of course material format options.
“CEI is the only platform, presently, that has kept pace with the evolution of
digital course materials” says Ed Schlichenmayer, President of indiCo
LLC. “Stores will be better positioned to serve faculty and student
interests in the future, and can offer their institutions the technology
capabilities needed to stay relevant with the ongoing advancement of course
materials.”
Campus eBookstore was formed through an
initiative of Canadian Campus Retail Associates (CCRA), which functions as a
technology development incubator on behalf of the twenty-two universities that
own CCRA. “The future of any one store is tied to the future of the channel as
a whole,” says Chris Tabor, President of CCRA. “Our ability to succeed in the
course material market is not about any individual store’s numbers. It is about
the number of stores.”
In 2011, recognizing the capabilities of the
CEI platform were important to independent stores in the United States, the
Independent College Bookstore Association (ICBA) invested in CEI and holds a
minority ownership interest. “The market has never been more dynamic,
competition has never been more intense, and our future has never been more
uncertain,” says David Kent, ICBA President. “These are times that require any
organization that lays claim to represent the interest of independent college
stores to innovate as we have never innovated before.” With its endorsement of
CEI, indiCo is pledging to work collaboratively with both CEI and ICBA in the
broader effort of strengthening independent college stores as a viable
collegiate retail channel.
Campus eBookstore, Inc. Principles
- The Platform will be licensed or made available by Campus
eBookstore for use by independent college store retailers, and will be
control by independent college store retailers, and will not be
transferred to or controlled by software system vendors or integrators,
publishers, book wholesalers, distributors or other vendors of
books.
- The Platform will support the capacity for inclusion and
distribution of faculty-authored content as well as commercially-available
materials.
- The business model rules and practices used in concert with the
Platform will reflect the academic nature and timings of the collegiate
retail marketplace.
- The business model rules used in concert with the Platform will
support content sales and marketing practices that offer favourable or
emphasized terms for university presses and other smaller publishers as
defined by Campus eBookstore.
- The model used by Campus eBookstore for the use and distribution of the Platform will be scalable with the ability to enable digital distribution for the broadest range of college stores (as defined by sales volume and campus enrollments).
Centralized Channel Data
Building
a credible voice for the independent college store channel
To develop a trustworthy voice in which
administrators can believe, requires that we have the data, knowledge and
insights that authenticate our positions. Toward that goal ICBA and indiCo will
invest in commissioned research into retail technology standards, how digital
content is being received and experienced by campus administrators, faculty and
students, trends in campus decision-making regarding the institutional college
store management model, and the collection and analysis of independent college
store practices and financial performance.
Professional Development
Retail training for college store professionals
Building on the success of the ICBA Institute
model, ICBA and indiCo will collaborate to provide both a rich curriculum and a
format that delivers the skill sets necessary to succeed with new business
models for individual store staff, and the store as a whole.
Building a Committed Buying and Sourcing Service
Functioning
as a virtual chain
Using the ICBA Commit-Buy-Sell program as our
foundation, ICBA and indiCo will collaborate to deliver a committed buying and sourcing
service to independent college stores.
As you can see, we are intent on tackling the
most significant issues of our channel head-on. We continue to be guided by the
ICBA Promise:
- Exclusive institutional store sharing
- Unsurpassed buying programs
- Industry-leading professional development
- Decision-making voice & pride of ownership
