Dive Brief:
- More colleges are discussing the possibility of taking their textbook sales online and closing campus stores or stocking them with other retail items.
- Some schools make the shift to tamp down on the cost of course materials and, at the same time, stem the sales losses as students opt out of buying textbooks.
- The National Association of College Stores recommends administrators only consider major changes after discussing their situation with peer institutions and running the financial and academic considerations past faculty and students.
Dive Insight:
Many campus bookstores have scaled back inventory to accommodate the competition from online and digital textbook purchasing sources. Students have plenty of options outside of their campus stores. Many remain committed, however, to the traditional process, as do faculty members, which could make a complete shift hard to sell. That is why campuswide buy-in for any major changes is important before moving forward with a transition. Of course, constant student turnover with successive graduation years means, at least from the student side, a new normal can be reached relatively quickly.