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What are your financial expectations for your college store in the coming school year? Good Not Too Bad Bad Downright Ugly  
     
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July 15, 2011
Provided Photo/EagleEye Photography, Allison Waltz Hoover
Ashland University Junior Jamie Neal, a member of the Phi Mu sorority, holds the attention of several young girls who attended the Ashland University Bookstore's American Girl Doll event. Neal was one of several members of Phi Mu who volunteered their time to help out with the event.
American Girl Event Attracts Young Readers
The staff at AU Bookstore, Ashland University, OH, was searching for a way to get children of reading age to attend events in the store. It hosted a Polar Express breakfast near Christmas and other similar events, but a large majority of the kids attending could not read yet.
A recent event with an American Girl theme, however, attracted about 100 girls, ranging in age from three to 13, along with their mothers. It brought together students, staff, and the community without much time invested by the store itself. In addition to bringing in young readers, the event allowed the store to communicate to the community that it was not just for Ashland students looking for textbooks.
"It let people in the community know they can come in here and buy children's books, or books of any kind," said AU Bookstore Director Terri Hudson. "It was a great event. We had the best time."
Changing the Utah Campus Store Mindset
The University of Utah Campus Store, Salt Lake City, was once the University Bookstore. For several reasons, it's taken years to disconnect the college retail outlet from that brand. First, the old name kept popping up in school documents and online records. Second, it was quite some time before students stopped referring to it as a bookstore.
Now that the new brand is in place and students and faculty refer to it as the Campus Store, management wants to change the retail mindset inside the store. To help accomplish that, the store hired a division manager from traditional, "Main Street" retail to shake things up.
Earl Clegg, store director, said he doesn't expect things to turn around immediately, but he has high expectations for the future.
"I don't expect miracles, but I can already feel and see changes in how things are done. It's a totally new approach. I just don't feel a bookstore—campus store—will survive doing things the campus store way," Clegg said. "If we don't convert to Main Street retail, we won't survive. We needed someone to come in that was a strong merchant to make those changes."
- NACS BUZZ -
Help Your Students Win Cash
Any college store that gets 25 or more students to join the OnCampus Research Student Panel by Dec. 31, 2011, will be entered to win $500 in cash or NACS credit.
Students can win prizes from OnCampus Research for participating, and any cash awards are presented to winners by the store. So far, OnCampus Research has given more than $50,000 in prize money to students.
In addition to the good public relations to students, any information obtained from them helps NACS to help college stores.
NACS provides banner ads that can be downloaded and easily placed on your store's web site.
For more information and access to the ads, go to www.nacs.org/research/studentpanel.aspx.
National Student Day Ramping Up
The National Student Day web site will soon be fully launched following the completion of the final portion, the student section. Students will soon be able to search for their college store and see what is planned on and around their campus on Oct. 6. In addition, students can submit blog postings on how they volunteer.
NACS will soon publicize the student portion of the site to media and students, so stores can expect inquiries about participating and what stores are doing.
The number of stores involved is growing quickly following the latest addition, Barnes & Noble, which recently signed up more than 300 of its stores nationwide.
The goal of National Student Day is to celebrate and promote social responsibility by students across North America. If students volunteer as a Big Brother or Sister, help out at a homeless shelter, or find other ways to give back to society and others, then NACS wants college stores to recognize those deeds and encourage others who might be looking for a gentle push towards helping others.
For more information about National Student Day, how to participate, and tools available from NACS, go to www.nationalstudentday.com.
- CAMEX COUNTDOWN -
Guy Kawasaki to Explain Elements of Enchantment
When Apple introduced the Macintosh in the mid-1980s, software companies were more interested in writing programs for IBM's PC. It was Guy Kawasaki's job as Apple's chief evangelist to cajole them into developing apps for the new computer.
Four years later, he left Apple with his mission accomplished. No doubt, Kawasaki's success was due in part to "enchantment," the topic of his new book and the focus of his Mega Session at CAMEX 2012 in Salt Lake City, UT.
In Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, Kawasaki described "how to influence what people will do while maintaining the highest standards of ethics." In his view, businesses and individuals can shape the reactions of others and drive change by simply being enchanting—a combination of likability, trustworthiness, and what he calls "a great cause."
At his CAMEX session, Kawasaki will discuss how the rules of enchantment apply to the college store industry and how stores can use enchantment to build business without resorting to deception or loss of integrity.
In the meantime, you can determine how enchanting you are by taking Guy's Realistic Enchantment Aptitude Test (GREAT) at http://great.guykawasaki.com. Those who pass the 23-question exam can download a special badge.
Kawasaki now is a founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures, which helps finance technology startups, and a co-founder of Alltop.com, an aggregator of online articles and blog posts. He's written nine other books on business practices and personal development. Three of his early titles, including his first book, The Macintosh Way, can be downloaded for free from his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/guy.
For more about Kawasaki, visit www.guykawasaki.com or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/guykawasaki. For more on Enchantment, visit www.facebook.com/enchantment.
Kawasaki's Mega Session will take place Saturday morning, March 3. For more on CAMEX, go to www.camex.org.
- QUICK READS -
HANES WILL SOON ADD A SPLASH
of color. Although it has been largely known for its plain white tee shirts and underwear, the company now looks to add some graphics. Hanes will focus more on women's fashion and is banking that its experience and size will help it beat competitors. The company is not going into the endeavor blind, having quietly tested graphic tees in a number of stores over the last few years.
THE WORLD'S FIRST POP-UP MALL
is expected to debut next month in England. The mall, Boxpark, will consist of recycled shipping containers stacked in the shape of a two-story shopping center. About 50 independent brands are being selected and offered space. Developers hope to blend art, lifestyle brands, and international fashion with galleries and cafés.
AMAZON WILL OPEN ITS FOURTH
distribution center in Arizona. The company also announced it would open a fourth distribution center just outside of Indianapolis. Both states are not pressing Amazon to collect sales taxes and the company is investing heavily in those states.
NEW LAWS WENT INTO EFFECT
this month in South Dakota and Vermont that require online retailers with at least $100,000 in annual e-commerce sales to notify customers in those states of their responsibility to pay use tax on any online purchases for which a merchant doesn't collect sales tax. Companion legislation in South Dakota also specifies that an online retailer must collect sales tax from the state's residents if the retailer has a subsidiary in the state to operate distribution centers.
In California, the decision to collect sales tax may be left up to the voters after Amazon asked that the issue be put on the ballot.
E-COMMERCE POSTED ITS
eighth straight month of double-digit gains, and the 23rd month in a row of growth for online purchases, according to a new report from MasterCard. Women's apparel led the way, while online jewelry sales suffered. High gas prices and stormy weather appear to have helped online retail.
THE MINNEAPOLIS LIBRARY SYSTEM
will test 3M's new cloud-based e-book library lending service using cloud-connected kiosks and custom e-readers that users can check out. Although the library understands there is some risk to allowing patrons to check out the devices, it believes that since customers can only read material from that library system, there is little chance of theft.
THE IRIVER STORY HD E-READER
will be available July 17 in Target stores nationwide and on Target.com. The e-reader is the first integrated with the open Google eBooks platform, through which you can buy and read Google e-books over wi-fi. The device retails for $139.99 and features a high-resolution e-ink screen and a QWERTY keyboard.
THE NAJAFI BID FOR BORDERS
is falling through and creditors are saying the bookseller would be in a better position by selling itself to liquidators. A sale to a group of liquidators would bring in between $252 million and $284 million in cash through going-out-of-business sales, creditors claim.
- NACS BLOG -
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