News from CAMEX 2009

Millers' Gift to Spotlight Store Success

For more than 30 years, Tommye Miller, CCR, led the college store industry by example. Throughout her career, Miller held herself, her staff, and her store to the highest of standards. Now retired, she wants to recognize other college store professionals who go above and beyond what is expected.

To accomplish this, Miller and her husband, Keith Miller, have underwritten the NACS Foundation Collegiate Retailer of the Year Award.

www.nacs.org/news/032009-retailer.asp

The Perfect Storm for Aspen Award

Randal H. Storm began attending NACS educational programs about 25 years ago. In the beginning, it was because he was eager to learn as much about the industry as possible.

Somewhere along the line, Storm became a purveyor of that knowledge. Now, after nearly three decades of assisting NACS education, Storm was honored with the Aspen Award for his contributions.

www.nacs.org/news/032009-aspen.asp

For First-Timer, CAMEX Was All About People

Dan Angelo, who joined the NACS staff last fall, didn’t quite know what to expect from his first CAMEX. He walked away with a much better knowledge of the industry and a greater appreciation for the people in it.

www.nacs.org/news/032009-camex.asp

NACS Board Confronts Digital Challenges, Next Moves

The NACS Board of Trustees reviewed an analysis of the digital content market and discussed how college stores can succeed despite accelerating change and competition at its March 12 meeting during CAMEX in Anaheim, CA,. The board also checked on the status of the new subsidiary, NACS Media Solutions, and approved a budget for fiscal year 2010.

www.nacs.org/news/032709-boardstory.asp

Revive Your Décor Without Killing Your Budget

Maybe you've noticed your store is looking a little frumpy and frayed. But this year's budget can spare only a few hundred dollars for remodeling.

That money can stretch further than you think. In their CAMEX 2009 educational session, Renovation and Improvements for $500 or Less!, two University of Wisconsin bookstore professionals explained how small "frugal fixes" can make a big difference to your store's appearance.

www.nacs.org/news/041009-decor.asp

Convenience Biz Fits Right into College Stores

College stores are positioned to scoop up a share of convenience store sales without developing a separate store location or investing in a lot of inventory. A 35-year retail veteran explained in a CAMEX 2009 educational session how college stores can get into the convenience business by creating a well-marked section within the store and using modern retail tactics to mind the merchandise mix.

www.nacs.org/news/041709-convenience.asp

Wood Gives TRU Look at The Perfect Store

In his role as vice president and director of syndicated research at Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU), Michael Wood has studied for years what young people prefer and how they shop. He's used TRU's findings to craft guidelines for what teens and twenty-somethings want to see in their "perfect store."

Wood presented a TRU look at that perfect store to attendees of his CAMEX 2009 Catalyst Session, along with some reasons why the college store industry may want to sit up and take notice.

www.nacs.org/news/032709-teens.asp

Alpha Dogs Need the Whole Team Pulling

A combination of a happy workforce, outstanding customer service, a solid brand, and using peers for knowledge can make your store the only place students will think of when it comes to their higher education wants and needs.

In her CAMEX 2009 presentation, Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack, author Donna Fenn offered examples of businesses that succeeded through tactics that made them stand out from the crowd. Over the next few weeks, Campus Marketplace will feature businesses Fenn profiled and focus on the little things that put them out front in their particular industry.

The first example is Norman Mayne and his Dorothy Lane Market. This former roadside stand is now a $60 million business. Its success begins and ends with its employees.

www.nacs.org/news/032709-alphadogs.asp

Postcards Help Brand East Stroudsburg Store

Roger DeLarco, director, The University Store, East Stroudsburg University, East Stroudsburg, PA, happened into an Abercrombie & Fitch store and started thinking about how the national retailer branded its product to young people. He decided A&F advertising didn't sell its product but its image. That was an approach he could use.

In his CAMEX 2009 session, he described how he found the perfect vehicle for the idea with postcards and started a campaign that has ESU students anxious to help, and buy, in his store.

www.nacs.org/news/040309-postcards.asp

Service Seals the Deal for Loyal Customers

Donna Fenn's CAMEX 2009 presentation, Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack, provided a few examples of businesses that offer a roadmap for a successful business.

Among those was Zane's Cycles, the largest independent bicycle dealer in New Haven, CT. Owner Chris Zane uses some unusual tactics to ensure customers stick with him for the long ride.

www.nacs.org/news/040309-zanes.asp

Bookstore Collects Cash from Other Vendors' Sales

The Bucknell University Bookstore, Lewisburg, PA, rakes in thousands of dollars in general merchandise sales but doesn't spend a penny on inventory or lift a finger to shelve the wares.

How does the store do it? Pop-up vendors, almost every week. In a CAMEX session, store employees explained the process.

www.nacs.org/news/040309-popup.asp

CAMEX Reaps Rewards for Children

Almost $60,000 worth of merchandise from CAMEX 2009 in Anaheim was donated by 28 exhibiting vendors to the Kids In Need (KIN) Foundation, which serves teachers and children in low-income and impoverished school districts.

"NACS has worked with the Kids In Need Foundation for many years to redistribute leftover booth giveaways and product that would otherwise go to waste," said Mary Adler-Kozak, CEM, NACS director of expositions. "Our CAMEX exhibitors have donated over $1 million worth of leftover product the past few years."

Jennifer Lehman, donor relations manager for Kids In Need, was extremely grateful to NACS and the exhibitors for helping them help the children.

"Our mission is to ensure that every child is prepared to learn and succeed by providing free school supplies nationally to students most in need," Lehman said. "The resource center network is our largest means of getting product into the hands of kids. Product donations and post-show trade show harvests are key to keeping the shelves of resource centers stocked with products.

"We are very appreciative that CAMEX participates with Kids In Need for trade show harvests. It is our hope that increased awareness and post-show product donations will provide show exhibitors an option for donating product year-round, in addition to their trade show donation. Since the 23 centers are located across the country, it is likely that your exhibitors have warehouses or manufacturing facilities in close proximity to the KIN network locations."

All She is Saying is Give Scarves a Chance

Colleen Olexiuk, general merchandise manager, University of Alberta Bookstore, Edmonton, gets pretty enthusiastic about fashion, particularly when it's affordable items like scarves.

But a college store doesn't have to be fashion-forward to stock scarves, she explained in the CAMEX session Selling Fashion in your College Store. It's an impulse item almost any store could carry.

www.nacs.org/news/041009-scarves.asp

Mistakes Retailers Make and How to Correct Them

When Ron Bond tossed out the suggestion at his CAMEX educational session that college stores may want to consider selling gasoline, he wasn't being completely serious. He was trying to get attendees to think "outside the box," no matter how much he dislikes that phrase.

Bond prefers "dare to think creatively," which is just one of the ways he wants retailers to break free from stagnation in their stores. Bond listed five big mistakes small retailers make, along with the keys to success.

www.nacs.org/news/041009-mistakes.asp

Revive Your Décor Without Killing Your Budget

Maybe you've noticed your store is looking a little frumpy and frayed. But this year's budget can spare only a few hundred dollars for remodeling.

www.nacs.org/news/041009-decor.asp

Business Success: A Little Bit of This and That

Donna Fenn, author of Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack, offered several businesses as examples of how to be successful in the retail world. To round out her presentation at CAMEX 2009 in Anaheim, CA, Fenn pointed to the success of PRConsultantsGroup and Trish Carter's Dancing Deer Baking Co.

PRConsultants uses a wide network of professionals to provide local leadership with national appeal for its clients, while Dancing Deer shuns the allure of increased revenue to protect the integrity of its baked goods at all costs.

www.nacs.org/news/041009-alphadogs.asp

Convenience Biz Fits Right into College Stores

www.nacs.org/news/041709-convenience.asp

The Desire to Manage is the First Step

Lara Konick-Mann, director of merchandising and marketing, University Book Store, University of Washington, Seattle, made many stops on her way to management. That journey gave her plenty of insights to share with others.

Konick-Mann told attendees at her So You Think You Can Manage educational session at CAMEX 2009 they've already taken the first step simply by being active in the industry. From there, it's a matter of learning everything they can and starting to think like a manager.

www.nacs.org/news/041709-manage.asp

Three Paths to a Hire Power

College store managers depend more than ever on a competent, productive, and motivated staff. But it's not easy to retain the best people in the face of hiring freezes, or to pick out good replacements from a mounting stack of applications.

The key for managers is to focus efforts on three crucial disciplines, said a human resources consultant and author in a CAMEX 2009 Catalyst Session, Winning the Race for Talent.

www.nacs.org/news/042409-hirepower.asp

Find Cash Internally to Survive Tough Times

Store managers know they have to tighten their belts to make it through the current economic conditions. Stores still need money to survive, however, and Len Vlahos of the American Booksellers Association discussed ways to save in his Surviving Tough Times educational session at CAMEX 2009.

It may take inventory control or adjusting store hours. It may even require trimming staff, but tough decisions have to be made and careful planning and an informed staff can help college stores make it to the other side of the recession.

www.nacs.org/news/042409-toughtimes.asp

There Are Savings in Those Green Ideas

Len Vlahos of the American Booksellers Association figured green issues were an important part of campus life for college stores. He told attendees at his Surviving Tough Times educational session at CAMEX 2009 that this is a good thing.

Green measures can save money for stores looking for ways to cut costs, while also creating good PR on campus. The savings can start by asking your customers the right question at the checkout counter.

www.nacs.org/news/042409-toughtimesII.asp

How to Foil the Focus Group Follies

Focus groups sound easy. Just invite a bunch of your customers in and start firing off questions. But in short order, you may find the group's discussion has either stalled or gone up in flames. In a worst-case scenario, participants may leave with a poor impression of your store.

A panel presentation at CAMEX 2009 offered two key pieces of advice for making sure your store's focus groups go off without a hitch.

www.nacs.org/news/050109-focusgroups.asp

Numbers Behind How Young People Shop

Michael Wood has learned a thing or two about the shopping habits of young people as vice president and director of syndicated research at Teenage Research Unlimited, mainly that they always have money for the things they really want to buy.

What does that mean for collegiate retailing? Wood explained during his Tracking Teens and Twentysomethings educational session at CAMEX 2009 in Anaheim, CA.

www.nacs.org/news/050109-wood.asp

Getting College Stores to Sell Themselves

You can't shepherd every single customer through your doors, so your store has to do that work for you. The CAMEX session Apocalyptic Bookselling featured advice on how to make sure your store is telling its own story, department by department, and as a cohesive whole.

www.nacs.org/news/050109-apocalyptic1.asp

Handselling Goes Virtual

The CAMEX session Apocalyptic Bookselling suggested that the challenge of training and keeping good employees, coupled with shrinking customer attention spans and loyalty, could spell an end to traditional handselling for college stores.

Whether you agree with that prognosis or not, the next step, which the presenters referred to as "virtual handselling," is something every store should be doing.

www.nacs.org/news/050109-apocalyptic2.asp

New Product Ideas Lurk, If You Look

Finding new product lines is a tough nut for most college stores, but a big, fuzzy squirrel brought in the business for the Grinnell College Bookstore in Iowa. Likewise, a Tennessee store's student-designed paisley and plaid wares have paid off, while a California store pumped up the pomp at its graduation fair.

A CAMEX 2009 educational session showed how a little imagination can blossom into fresh opportunities for general merchandise sales.

www.nacs.org/news/050809-products.asp

A Brand to Be Proud Of

Having a solid brand for your store rests on more than a name or logo; it's about the experience. A brand is a promise: everything that defines your offering and distinguishes it from competitors.

Are you delivering on your promise?

In the CAMEX 2009 educational session (Brand) New Thinking for Your College Store, members of the NACS Marketing and Branding Committee offered suggestions for creating a positive brand that the entire campus community will embrace.

www.nacs.org/news/050809-brand.asp

Regular Events Drive Traffic in Stores

Having at least one event each week in your college store sends a message to the campus and community that something is always going on at the store.

In the CAMEX 2009 educational session Creating Killer Events, Len Vlahos, chief program officer for the American Booksellers Association, said stores should strive to host as many events as possible if they want to become a destination for students and members of the surrounding community.