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Marketing Tools Online Textbooks: Where's the Bargain? We have conducted yet another test of the on-line competition for textbooks, and I wanted to share this result with you ASAP. We asked one of our student workers to shop the on-line competition for 4 randomly selected courses — a Philosophy course, math course, Government course, and Sociology course were selected. A total of 19 books were ordered. XXCompany.com (part of a company from Kentucky that also provides used books to our store) claims that it offers students its top 50 textbooks at 50% off, that the site offers student consumers up to 50% off on their purchase of college textbooks, and that XXCompany.com is "the globe's largest college bookstore." Our test shows something quite different. Of the four courses, XXCompany.com didn't have all the books for any one of them. In fact, of the 19 required books, XCompany.com only shipped us 7, EVEN THOUGH THEY INDICATED WHEN WE PLACED THE ORDER THAT ALL BUT ONE WERE IN STOCK. XXCompany.com offered us free shipping, which seemed to make them more competitive. Our order was placed on January 31, two days before classes started, and the point at which all of the books were available in the bookstore. The seven books they did have arrived yesterday, February 14, nearly two weeks into the term. It is interesting to note that even though it took two weeks to get the books, XXCompany.com shipped them "UPS 1 Day", which means the backlog isn't in transit, but in processing. While there appeared to be no reasoning to the pricing we received from XXCompany.com, the bottom line is this — a student, willing to wait almost two weeks, would have saved 11 cents on these books! Their price - $170.04, our price - $170.15. XXCompany.com includes a call tag for return shipping if the student doesn't want/need the books, a very nice touch (especially since we intend to return the books). 7 out of 19 books, two weeks wait, 11 cents and a call tag. Do the math! |
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