E-Commerce to the Rescue

Like it or not, when the pandemic struck in spring 2020, many campus bookstores had to quickly up their game in e-commerce.

The result was that the upgrades enabled many stores to expand their services to students, provide greater convenience, and streamline certain functions, even though some physical stores were completely closed to customers for months.

Four campus stores shared their experiences and lessons learned in the CAMEX22 session in Louisville, Quickly Adapting Your Store and E-Commerce.

Northwest Wisconsin Tech College Bookstore, Green Bay

Like many college stores, the NWTC Bookstore closed in spring 2020 due to the pandemic. That fall, the administration decided the store should remain closed and put all services online. On top of everything, the school switched from semesters to quarters.

“It was a lot of transition in a very short time,” recalled Gretchen Bonnema, a store manager who started as a student employee 32 years ago. Prior to the pandemic, only about 25% of sales were online, with 75% going through the physical store, as textbooks were handled by counter service.

“It became essential for us to maximize the tools available,” she said. Students now had to order course materials online, but the store made it easy for them. With a single sign-on system, students could click one link to go to a personal booklist with all the materials they need.

“The student only sees the books for classes in which they’re enrolled,” she explained. That eliminates any chance of selecting the wrong book with a similar title.

The advantage to counter service was that a store employee assisted each student individually and could answer questions or provide more information. Bonnema said the store tried to duplicate that level of service with the online system.

“We learned a lot about the different kind of notes we could put out there,” she said. In collaboration with faculty, they utilized the notes section of the application to make sure students had access to all the information they needed, such as fees or options in format.

To the extent possible, the store tried to emulate e-commerce practices elsewhere, so students would be comfortable with the experience. Students can check their order history and payments, and whether they still have a rental out. A text messaging system sends alerts when their order is ready for pickup. They can also get alerts for buyback.

University Book Store, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The store only closed for about two months during the pandemic “but we had to work hard with marketing,” said Angie Maniaci, insignia products buyer. “Nobody wanted to shop in person.”

Surprisingly, email turned out to be an effective tool for drawing customers to the website. “They didn’t unsubscribe as much as we thought they would,” she said. The store sent out a string of email promotions: $10 Tuesdays, featuring a hot deal on surplus merchandise. Geraldine’s Pick every Thursday, with an item “recommended” by an 82-year-old employee. Twelve Days of Deals at Christmastime. Model of the Month, with student models showing off apparel (in return for a gift card, plus they got to designate a charity for a donation). Two’s Day Sale on Feb. 22, 2022.

“We got rid of the time limit for returns,” Maniaci said. As long as “somebody had a receipt and had the tag,” they could bring the item back. Returns didn’t actually increase; the longer someone had an item, the less likely they were to return it.

The store set up two fulfillment centers to process orders. With social distancing, it was even easier to pack orders. “We had lots of training,” Maniaci said. “Now everybody knows how to do everything.”

Georgia Southern University Store, Statesboro

Unlike others, the Georgia Southern University Store remained open for in-person business throughout the pandemic. “But we realized we needed to be creative in how we got products out,” said Derick Robertson, director, retail services.

Even though the store was open, web orders were up 30% to 40%. Two staff teams (day and night shifts) were needed to process orders.

The store began closing to the public at 5 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. “That gave us time to pick, pack, and get orders ready for the next day,” Robertson said. Parking spots behind the store were reserved for curbside pickup; phone numbers were designated on the spots.

“We didn’t have an official backorder system. We used QR codes” for scanning shelf tags, he said. “That saved us.”

Because students didn’t want to come into the store, drop boxes were set up to receive rental returns. Students could put the book in a bag, take a photo on their phone, drop the bag in the box, and send the picture to the store. “We made it simple and easy for them,” Robertson said. “That’s really driven sales.”

Texans Campus Store, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX

The store dropped its lease last year and now is operated institutionally. Kolton Shoop, who had started as a student employee, was promoted to e-commerce sales associate when the store went independent and needed its own e-commerce site.

“I had no web experience before, but I feel we can do basically anything we need to do on the website,” Shoop said.

The store greatly expanded the selection of apparel available online. Filters were added to the site so that customers could sort the listings by type, price, brand, size, and nine different sports. Small tiles next to the garment image show the available colors; click on a tile to see the garment in that color. The site is tied in with the store’s inventory, so if only one item is left in stock, it disappears from view.

Shoop uses Canva to create graphics for the site; most of the product images come from vendors but he’s able to shoot images if needed. An announcements page alerts customers to sales, a change in hours, buyback dates, rental returns, and the Future Grad of the Month.

“Keeping graduation as its own tab is useful. People couldn’t find it when it was jumbled with something else,” he said.