UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS “ You can be the low price leader! ”

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 Bookstore market share – 40-50%  The near-monopoly days are over, but things are still good!  What other industry can boast those figures?  We need to re-shift our focus.  Let ’ s not strive for something unsustainable.  Let ’ s step away from the gloom and doom.  Let ’ s figure out how to be competitive.  Price Competitively & Offer In-Store Rental

 How to price competitively:  Offer rental on as many titles as possible  You need to have the biggest impact on the large enrollment titles.  80% of your sales probably come from 20% of your titles- pricing that 20% competitively is important.  Don ’ t try to have the lowest price on all items; no one retailer in any industry can do that.  What books do you need to price competitively?  Newer editions- much easier to compete on these titles  High volume titles  Jason lorgan – uc-davis BOOKSTORE

Jason lorgan – uc-davis BOOKSTORE

 In addition:  Don ’ t have to reinvent the wheel to choose your prices  There are tools out there to help you price and show students online price comparison  Verba Compete and Verba Compare  Integrated with MBS Text Applications  Integrated into MBS Systems inSite e-commerce product  Can be used with other college store management systems as a stand alone product  Rental price comparisons are available with this product  Jason lorgan – uc-davis BOOKSTORE

 Offering in-store rental:  In-store rental puts you in the game.  Your store is the LOWEST price option a student can find on most titles you rent.  A lot of stores think you have to sacrifice margin when you offer rental, but you don ’ t!  Many stores, including UC Davis, achieve the same gross margin with rental as with purchased books.  Jason lorgan – uc-davis BOOKSTORE

 UC Davis has partnered with Follett, MBS and Nebraska. Currently an agreement with Texas Book Company is in our Business Contracts Office  The more wholesaler programs you sign up for, the more options you have and the larger program you can develop

 Recommended to supplement an in store rental program  Can be done without an in store program, but your margin will be significantly less  Chegg, Bookrenter, Follett are the most common

 Send a title list via spreadsheet or your management system to the wholesalers  They will respond with a rebate amount for each title  If more than one vendor supports a title for rental, if you pick the highest rebate, your price will be the most competitive

 UC-Davis rental price formula:  New Retail - Wholesaler Rebate = New Rental Price  Used Retail - Wholesaler Rebate = Used Rental Price  Assuming a $100 New Retail, $75 Used Retail and $46 Rental Rebate….  $100 New - $46 Rebate = $54 New Rental Price  $75 Used - $46 Rebate = $29 Used Rental Price  Please note this formula allows us to maintain our EXISTING margins in dollars  In other words, rental and purchase margins are identical in dollars  Jason lorgan – uc-davis BOOKSTORE

 UC-Davis Bookstore Rental Overview:  Fall Quarter 2010, we rented 246 titles  Winter Quarter 2011, we rented 350 titles  Spring Quarter 2011, we rented 426 titles  Fall Quarter 2011, we rented 930 titles  Winter Quarter 2012, we have set a goal of 1400 titles  UC Davis averages 2300 titles per quarter  The fear of going into rental was worse than the reality.  Recent Systems Rental enhancements has made the process much easier!  Jason lorgan – uc-davis BOOKSTORE

Look at how much our students can save!

Jason Lorgan