Advocacy Articles

Bundling and Advocacy, still HOT Issues!!!
By Mark Palmore, Institutional Store Advocate and Executive Director

On Sunday, February 27, I had the opportunity to moderate two education sessions at CAMEX in New Orleans.  Both sessions were full to capacity of your store colleagues engaging in lively and stimulating discussion about these two hot industry topics:  Institutional Store Advocacy and Bundling

Institutional Store Advocacy

The development, planning, and implementation of this session allowed me the opportunity to work with Lara Mann from Western Washington, Carol Nel from Northern Arizona, and Stacy Waymire from ICBA.  Unfortunately Lara was not able to attend CAMEX.   Yes, this was a collaborative effort of both Connect2One and ICBA and I believe it worked very well for all involved.  Thanks Lara, Carol, and Stacy for coming together with me to develop such a worthwhile session for all institutional stores.

During the session “Knowing the Value of Your Store,” attendees were given a ten question quiz called “Who Wants to Be Leased” which asks important questions on whether or not your store is prepared to meet the challenge of staying institutional.  The quiz contains questions such as:  does your store pitch institutional management to your administration on a regular basis; does your store participate in the NACS or other Financial Surveys; do you set goals for your stores performance; do you conduct faculty, student, and staff surveys; and are you an innovator!  The questions were discussed in detail, moderated by Stacy with comments from Carol and me.  Then, Carol gave her stores perspective, discussing how they were able to stay institutional by analyzing all aspects of what they do, especially using the financial survey tools and other benchmarking to work as a team to improve the value of their store to their institution.  Her store was successful for many reasons but one major reason Carol did not mention is that she is an innovator. They dared to dream that their store could exceed expectations and they did!   Thanks Carol, Stacy, and of course Lara for a great presentation.

Bundling and Customization

In the Bundling Session I had the honor of working with Cathy Scott from the Spokane Community Colleges.  Cathy did a super job presenting the various ways her store uses the tools available to meet the challenges of Bundling.  Yes, Bundling and Customization are here to stay, but education of your faculty and your publisher’s reps can make the entire process move more smoothly for your store.

I started the session by giving the attendees a brief history of the Bundling issue and why it has evolved in our industry.  One obvious reason is certainly that publishers want to sell more new books.  However, in order to meet the financial needs of our student customers, college stores need to be able to offer the economical choice of used books.

At Connect2One, we advocate that you educate your faculty on the bundling issue.  Our research has told us that in the vast majority of cases faculty members elect to not adopt a bundle once educated on the impact bundles will have on their students.

Cathy spent time during her part of the session outlining how they have used the tools available to them to not only educate the faculty, but to also educate the publishers representatives to include the bookstore in the adoption process when the adopted course materials include a bundle.  She also discussed other ways you can work with your faculty and administration to combat this growing trend.  Thanks for a great presentation, Cathy!

Yes, we would love to see bundles of no value disappear; they certainly are not in the best interest of students or the bookstore.  However, it is unlikely that publishers will discontinue promoting the use of bundles, so we must continue to work toward educating our faculty members and working closely with our campus administrators to make sure the students have every opportunity to save money on their course materials.  The job won’t be easy but keep plugging away.

For more information on either one of these sessions, or if you would like to receive a copy of the Connect2One Bundling and Customization “Help Kit’ please contact me at mpalmore@connect2one.com.