Who Doesn't Love a Bargain (Book)?
3/28/08

Staffers at college stores are just as weary of hearing students grouse about the high cost of course books as the students are of having to pay for them. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to offer some other general reading books that were more the kinds of bargains customers always hope to see?

Enter the expanding bargain book category.

The two most common types of bargain books are remainders and "hurt" books, according to Joan Keehan, director of marketing and merchandising for NACSCORP, who explained many of the ins and outs of the category in the CAMEX session Finding Your Niche: New Revenues Through New General Book Opportunities.

Remainders are books that publishers sell below the wholesale cost due to print overruns, poor retail sales, or liquidated inventory. Hurts are books that were returned to publishers for whatever reason, which publishers then resell to other stores at a great discount. They may or may not have any damage to them.

Why carry bargain books? The benefits to booksellers are many. For one, despite all the talk about paperless societies and digital books, there has never been more publisher material available to secondary markets. Since there is a strong and steady supply of quality bargain books available to the marketplace, you can create a business plan that counts on bargain books as a reliable category for sales.

Furthermore, everyone's doing it. Go into virtually any big-box retailer and you'll probably find a display of bargain books somewhere near the checkout. Customers are getting used to seeing these kinds of displays and won't be a bit surprised to find your college store following suit.

And bargain books, by their "never-quite-sure-what-you'll-find," grab-bag nature, also create a high level of excitement among shoppers. "Everyone loves a bargain, and with prices at 80%-90% off the list price, customers love browsing through discount racks in every category," said Jon Bibo, vice president of general books and computer products at Follett Higher Education Group, River Grove, IL.

"How do you put a value on 'I got a great deal on this at the bookstore'?" Bibo asked the session's attendees.

Although remainder and hurt book categories are generally nonreturnable, and there's usually no free freight offered, Bibo noted that with initial margins of 50% (30%-40% after markdowns) any college store can effectively compete with chain stores in this category.

Scott Krause, buyer at the Arizona State University Bookstore, Tempe, and the third presenter in the session, pointed out that due to the constantly changing nature of the titles and specials offered, it's important to have someone in the store responsible for the category. It's also vital that this person put regular, aggressive, and timely markdowns on anything not selling within a 30- to 60-day time period.

Finally, Keehan cautioned stores that if they take the plunge and stock bargain books, to be sure they ensure they have enough breadth of titles on hand to make a strong statement customers can't help but notice.

"I'd say approximately 150 to 200 titles are needed for an initial assortment, although 300 to 400 is much better," said Keehan, who noted that at that quantity, a store's investment is only about $1,000-$1,500.

Bargain book sources noted in the session:

—Keith Galestock





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