State of the College Bookstore - Part 1: The Problem

I never knew until I started this job, just how much turmoil is in the College Bookstore industry.

Lets look at the industries' name; "College Bookstore".  There are your first two problems right there.  Books are already facing deep hurdles as a books are being replaced by online sources.  Publishers, in order to keep up with the times, have moved to digital content.  Thus Bookstores, the Brick and Mortar bookstores, are not only fighting to stay relevant in the digital age, but also having to compete with online retailers such as Amazon, Barns & Noble, and increasingly, Google Play and Apple iTunes.

But our biggest competition, as I have said in the past, is in students back pockets.  Students can quickly whip our a smart phone and determine what the best prices for books and supplies are.  Its not just the bookstore down the road, but the online retailers such as Half, and the dozen other retailers I mentioned previously.

Then you have the College part of it.  This brings two big problems.  First the rising cost of tuitions are sending students to look for the cheapest method to get books.  Even I have done this.  I won't admit guilt here.  After all, I have to make ends meet as well.

Then you have the other aspect of College, bureaucracy, and by extension, politics.  Admins often think they know how to run a business.  Of course they know how to run a public institution, but there is a very big difference between a retail business and an institution.  Presidents have to balance the wants of influential members of the community, Alumni, Regents, Elected Politicians, Faculty, Staff, Students, Athletic Departments, etc, are properly satisfied with the University as a whole.  Thus all departments must fall in line to help out when called.  This call is especially important when you are one of the few front facing departments.  Along with Athletics, Alumni Associations, Marketing departments, Executive departments, and yes, College Bookstores, are among those front facing  departments.

The next problem facing the industry is a perception problem.  Perception problem.  Just was roll does the college bookstore play in the College and in the community?  Are we here to support Students?  Faculty?  Staff?  Alumni?  Athletics?  Is our scope limited to a few, or do we need to appeal to the masses?  Are we just a bookstore?  can we afford to be just a bookstore anymore?  How can we stay relevant to the needs of the students?

Last major problem is a problem from the back end.  Most bookstores are just now catching up to the times.  In many ways, we are still behind.  While Major retailers have had money to throw at these problems, most bookstore have to fight the above mentioned bureaucracy to get these problems fixed.  Other problems involve sourcing options that don't have our best interests at heart, or at the very least don't want to be bothered by the small retailers.

All of this come at a time when privatization becomes the key to "fixing" the problems they have.

But I don't want to focus solely on the Problems.  I also want to use this series to address some possible fixes.  Some of these might be idealistic.  And I may not have all of the answers.  But I do believe there is a way to survive in this time of evolution.