SEX, RENTALS & THE BOOKSTORE IQ BAR

It is a very interesting time in the college store industry to say the least.  For some college bookstore employees, the changes are invigorating and exciting while others would just as soon climb under a rock.  I'll explain the connections to my title in a minute, but I promise it is not just a shameful attempt to get your attention and it really does have relevance.

So, I had a dream the other night.  Chicken Little was running around...you know the story...promoting the sky is falling, only in THIS dream, he was right. 

As Chicken Little ran in circles proclaiming his vision, a sad looking dog sat on the floor with hunks of plaster falling on his head.  Chicken Little stopped and asked "Well, aren't you going to move? The sky is falling in!" Without lifting his head off the floor the sad faced dog said "No, I didn't buy the sky.  It's just rented and now it's time to be returned."

I can't tell you the psychology behind this dream, although obviously I have textbook rentals on my mind.  Perhaps my subconscious is thinking (worrying?) about the future.

Do you dream about the college store industry?  For me this was a dream, but for some it may be a nightmare where you find yourself waking up screaming in a cold sweat.

So, with a somewhat awkward transition, let's move from dreams to the "sex" in my carefully chosen title since I did promise to deliver substance.  Kno, Inc. recently commissioned a survey of college students that revealed 73% would be willing to give up sex for a year if they don't have to carry around textbooks.

Kno, Inc. is one of many companies who had been working on development of an e-reader but, earlier this year, shifted direction to focus on delivering educational software (Kno Tablet Maker Ditches Hardware for Software). 

So, if there is anyone who may have thought the movement towards e-textbooks is not a future reality, perhaps this somewhat extreme and desperate statement by college students will help to change your mind.  Even Le Targèt is chasing the college market in print as well as in cyberspace with large tabloid-style back to school promotional mailers and a robust digital communication strategy.  I even received a back to school flyer from Sam's Club competing for the same audience I serve and offering many of the same items!

As everyone knows, Facebook is an established social media giant and they are yet another example of rapidly converging technologies.  Push Pop Press, a technology start up founded by two former Apple employees that helps authors convert traditional books to mobile-friendly formats, was just acquired by Facebook. 

"Although Facebook isn't planning to start publishing digital books, the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook, giving people even richer ways to share their stories. With millions of people publishing to Facebook each day, we think it's going to be a great home for Push Pop Press." – Push Pop Press

We all realize how connected today's students are to Facebook and other social media so it will be interesting to see the impact of Push Pop technology on the digital expectations for our student customers.

In my own store, BGSU Bookstore, we launched price comparison and web-competitive pricing strategy using data analytics from software engineered by Verba Software.  Interestingly, when we were designing the implementation last fall, we chose to affiliate with two online rental companies and two internet sellers – Amazon.com and Half.com.  This strategy, we felt, would balance the on lines sales and rental preferences of our students.  Less than a year later, Amazon has announced a rental program connected with the Kindle Reader platform (the reader software, not the device) and Half.com has announced it will be testing rental textbooks. Lastly, rumor has it that Chegg.com will more aggressively be selling books through their distribution network.  So much for the balanced offering we designed last year!

New changes, services, partnerships, and technology options have become the de facto standard in the college store industry.  If you are at all familiar with Apple's Genius Bar concept, the last part of the title may sound familiar and for good reason. McGraw-Hill will test new service collaboration with three college stores this fall. It resembles the Apple concept and will support the McGraw Connect online access products.  The genesis for this project was born out of a chance meeting between Stacy Waymire, ICBA Executive Director and Beth Meijer, McGraw-Hill Executive Director for Developmental Education, at an Ohio Textbook Affordability summit.  And while McGraw-Hill is designing innovative Bookstore partnerships, others have designs of their own for McGraw-Hill.

So where is the "safe harbor", for anyone in the college store industry, who is uncomfortable with all these changes?  How can we keep up and what can we expect to happen next? I don't know if a safe harbor exists, although this does bring to mind a surfing analogy...would you rather ride the wave and coast comfortably into shore or misread the wave and wipeout?

2011 ICBA Board of Directors

For me personally, I have an ownership interest in an organization that gives me comfort during these challenging times.  As an industry leading organization, ICBA is always on the cutting edge of the next big wave and helps me to ride the wave and avoid the "undertow" (Can you connect the literary reference?).

The stores who are part of ICBA are not only members, they are owners. 

The organization's leadership, ICBA Staff and Board of Directors, takes a different kind of "ownership" very seriously-   guiding member stores in these challenging times.  If anyone tells you they have all the answers, be wary.  Nobody does.  However, the collective genius of the ICBA member stores combined with the professional leadership of the ICBA staff forms a formidable network that is "poised to take on all comers" and is designed to help stores navigate the "challenging waters" in our industry.

A good blog is supposed to be about two-way communication and not just a one-way dialogue by the writer or "sage on a stage" as one of my training colleagues once said.  I hope, in addition to catching your attention with my "sexy" headline, I have also peaked your interest in recent industry developments and maybe even provoked a response on a topic discussed here.  Regardless of how you relate to what I have written, I hope you will offer your comments, reactions, ideas, or maybe share a personal story.  As I always said when I was a training manager, "there are NO dumb questions" and "the answer is here in this (electronic) room."   

Post Written By Jeff Nelson, Director BGSU Bookstore & ICBA President