A Look Back at CAMEX 2011 through Campus Marketplace
Every year the editorial team for Campus Marketplace, NACS’ weekly e-newsletter, fans out at CAMEX in search of advice and ideas from industry presenters and guest speakers to share with NACS members in a series of articles. Take a look at the experience and expertise they found at CAMEX 2011 educational sessions in Houston, TX.
Promising Start for Mobile Commerce at GVSU
Starting in July 2010, the University Bookstore, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, did $10,000 worth of business through its new mobile commerce site over an eight-month stretch. Kyle Douglass, assistant manager of marketing, talked about his m-commerce experiences, along with some of the nuts and bolts of the site, during the Mobile Technology of Retailing education session. Full story
Toms Founder: Giving Gives Back to Business
Blake Mycoskie, the founder of Toms Shoes, offered one key piece of advice to his Mega Session audience: "What I've learned in the last three and a half years is giving doesn't just feel good, it's good for business." Mycoskie described three ways in which giving away half his company's shoe inventory makes good business sense. Full story
CAMEX Attendees FISH! for Fun and Motivation
Buz Moser, executive director of business services, Wake Forest University Stores, Winston-Salem, NC, took pleasure in introducing Deena Ebbert at her Thought Leader Session, The FISH! Philosophy: Catch the Energy, because he had firsthand experience with the program. "We wanted to come up with the best training philosophy for customer service in our stores," Moser told the audience. "This works. The FISH! Philosophy is simple, but it's very, very dynamic."
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College Stores Can Weather Industry Storms
Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services, R.R. Bowker, understands the squalls that surround the college bookstore industry. He also knows that every dark cloud has a silver lining. A college store can beat its competition with a little knowledge and the motivation to act. According to Gallagher at his CAMEX 2011 session, it requires understanding industry trends, using that information to define the store's value to its core customer, and then delivering on that value proposition. Full story
Make Someone's Day by 'Choosing Your Attitude'
In The FISH! Philosophy: Catch the Energy video shown during the Thought Leader Session, young fishmonger at Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, WA, says to the camera, "I have the choice to have a good time." The market built its reputation on employees having a good time on the job. But it's less about fooling around and more about creating a memorable experience for the people who stop each day to watch. Full story
Generation Y Expects Truth, Innovation, Visuals
Two things stand out about Generation Y, according to author, professor, and consultant Kit Yarrow: They grew up using more personal technology than any other generation, and they were raised in a youth-focused culture. In her Thought Leader Session, Yarrow described the strategies college stores must take if they expect to connect with this age cohort, which will dominate the college student population for the next decade. Full story
Bundle Trouble Solved with Four-Part Form
Errors made specialty bundles a headache for Don Newton, general manager, CCSF Bookstores, City College of San Francisco. So he decided to do something about it. Newton created a four-part form seven years ago that collects a variety of information on each bundle such as content, cost, and returnability. Then he gets the form signed by all the parties involved in decision-making on the bundle to ensure they are on the same page. Full story
Bookstores Jump Feet-First into Awareness Campaign
Blake Mycoskie, founder of Toms Shoes, challenged attendees at his CAMEX Mega Session to consider participating in his One Day Without Shoes campaign, highlighting the need for shoes that people living in poverty have around the world. Some members were inspired to bring that model home. The University Bookstore, Murray State University, Murray, KY, and the South Central College Bookstores in North Mankato and Fairbault, MN, created similar approaches that offered savings for customers while providing items young people in the surrounding community needed. Full story
Connections Are Opportunities
Success lies in the ability to connect with others—to get people to like you, said entrepreneur, speaker, author, and business strategist Steve Harper. Accomplishing this can be difficult, especially for those people who may not be good with others. During his Thought Leader presentation, Ripple Your Way to Better Connections: Building Your Personal and Professional Network the Right Way, Harper said people are "an unbelievable treasure chest of opportunity if you just take the time, pick the lock, lift the lid, and look inside." Full story
Call on Campus Offices to Prospect Gift Sales
Salespeople may be strolling onto your campus and taking sales from your store right under your nose. And they may be doing it with the permission of your school's president and other top administrators. But, with a little effort and ingenuity, your store can get those dollars back, advised Rick Muhr, vice president of sales, Jardine Associates, North Kingstown, RI, in his education session Mining Gold in Your Own Backyard. Full story
Find the Need, Fill the Need
Todd Hunt, director, Valencia Community College Bookstore, Orlando, FL, quickly turned his education session, Just Say Yes to Doing Things We Never Thought We Would, over to the audience. Hunt gave the floor to those in attendance to share some things they've done in their stores—things they didn't think could or would be done in a college store. Full story
Online Logo Sales Easier Than You Think
Eugene Kohn has heard all the excuses why some college stores don't sell logo merchandise online. As principal/treasurer of the Dartmouth Co-op, he can refute every one just by pointing to his store's e-commerce site, which accounts for more than 20% of his insignia sales.
In his session Building Online Sales of Insignia Merchandise, Kohn offered practical tips and suggestions to help any type of college store increase logo sales on the web—and how stores can get past self-defeating attitudes about e-commerce. Full story
Rewards Card Data Help Varney's Connect
Jeff Levin, owner, Varney's Book Stores, Kansas State University, Manhattan, told attendees of the Marketing to a Segment of One education session that a simple rewards card makes his customer relationship management system work. Customers earn points for each dollar spent in Varney's or its partners, and then redeem the points for goods and services while Varney's uses the information collected through registration, member purchases, and points redemptions to target future promotions and offers. Full story
Five Trends Are Driving E-Textbooks
Rob Reynolds knows what he's talking about when it comes to course content. The director of product design and research, MBS-Xplana, Columbia, MO, spent two decades as an instructor and administrator in higher ed and gained experience in publishing before he moved into the education software field. The future, as he sees it, is unquestionably digital. In the session Course Materials: Online, Mobile, and Partnering Solutions, Reynolds pointed to five trends fueling the spread of e-textbooks. Full story
Are You in the Ice Business?
Larry F. Johnson, CEO, New Media Consortium, Austin, TX, reached back into the past to show college stores what lies ahead in his session A Future View of Education: How Policy and Technology Are Changing the Landscape. He observed how very different the concept of technology has been to different generations. Radio was new tech to his father, but to Johnson himself, growing up, "it was as normal as breathing to me to listen to the radio." That's how digital content is going to be for future crops of students when they reach your campus. Full story
Social Networking Takes Time, But Pays Off
College students have latched onto social media in a big way. So have quite a few college stores. But some stores may wonder if it's really worth the trouble to maintain accounts on various social networking sites. The University Book Store, University of Washington, Seattle, and the UCI Bookstore, University of California, Irvine, definitely think so. In the session Reach Your Campus with Social Networking Channels, the two stores shared pointers about using social media as a marketing and publicity tool. Full story
'Bricks' Still Strong in a 'Clicks' World
Students' online purchasing of required course materials increased from 2% in 2005 to 45% in 2009, and Glenn Cook, CEO, Skor Sports Inc.—who visited more than 300 stores in the past year—sees the same trend in sales of logo campus apparel. "The Internet has really opened things up," agreed John Wittman, vice president and general manager, Baker & Taylor/Majors Education Solutions, and Cook's co-presenter of the session Bricks 'n' Clicks: Cultivating Profits and Incremental Sales Through E-Commerce. Wittman observed that many apparent threats to college stores may actually represent new opportunities. Full story
Managing the Generational Divide
Five years ago, making the transition from student worker to bookstore manager put Chad Schreier, CCR, manager, Lebanon Valley College Store, Annville, PA, on unfamiliar ground with both professors and his fellow workers. Once part of the store staff, Schreier was now on the outside looking in as management. "I struggled going from student to requesting textbooks from professors," Schreier said in his CAMEX 2011 session, Leadership Perspectives Across the Generational Divide: A Guide for Young Professionals. Here's his advice on how other college store employees can bridge the age gap. Full story