WHAT IS SELL-THRU BOOSTER?
Sell-Thru Booster is a tool designed to help College Bookstores compete with internet retailers and discounters. It is a two phase calculator that helps bookstores set realistic buyback prices on older books and then, after wantlisting, set retail prices based on total acquisition costs rather than the new book net. By using the total cost or “pooled” method of pricing, it is often possible to sell new books below the publisher net and used books even lower. The idea is to use this price advantage as another marketing instrument to stem the erosion of market share in the college store. Sell-Thru Booster rewards good textbook management. The more efficient you are (buyback, returns, etc) the lower you will be able to set prices on this class of textbook.
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WHY SELL-THRU BOOSTER?
The Achilles heel of the College Textbook Industry is our quirky, upward sloping, price curve. As a book progresses through the edition cycle, as it ages, College Stores tend to raise prices rather than lower them. Inflation at the producer level (i.e. College Publishing) triggers our traditional pricing model to increase prices at buyback and other sources including the large used book warehouses.
Raising the price of an aging product is contrary to common, consumer and economic sense. The College Store Industry will not be able to maintain its traditional, new net based, pricing model in the face of burgeoning internet competition. A total cost pricing model as used by Sell-Thru Booster is a first step in realigning our industry with the actual market forces at play in the Textbook Market. Sell-Thru Booster helps the College Store affect a more downward sloping price curve while maintaining normal store margins.
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WHO SHOULD USE SELL-THRU BOOSTER
If you are concerned about internet competition, Sell-Thru Booster may be just the tool for you. Alloken designed this tool to increase sell-through for older titles whose prices seem to be rising in your store but steadily dropping on Amazon, E-Bay and other popular internet sites. College Bookstores, traditionally, have based their prices (Used Books, Buyback, etc) on new net prices from the publishers. With the traditional pricing model, inflation at the producer level (i.e. new books) has led to an increase in prices at the secondary level (i.e. used books) even as those books near the end of their edition cycles.
Look around your store and see if you have any books that are two or three years old that are priced, “used”, in the hundred dollar range. If these books are on your buyback list, they’re a prime candidate for Sell-Thru Booster. If you have time you may also want to use it with other, lower value, titles that figure significantly on your buyback list.
By setting prices based on total acquisition costs rather than the new net price, Sell-Thru Booster can help you set a price that maintains your normal margin and puts these titles in a much more competitive position.
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WON’T MY STUDENTS REJECT A LOWER BUYBACK PRICE?
Tests at university book stores suggest that students are more price conscious at the register (or store website) than they are at buyback. Most students have been conditioned, over the years, to accept very low “guide” prices on older books. Even on newer books, the guide price will rarely rise above 30%. For the older titles, those targeted by Sell-Thru Booster, the guide price tends to be much lower. Students are much more likely to sell a book at a lower price than they are to buy an older book whose price does not reflect its copyright date. A three year old business book, for example, that is selling, “used”, in your store for one hundred dollars is likely to prompt many students to seek an older edition substitute. Your sell-through rates on titles of this category will generally reflect these trends. If students at your school boast of buying on the internet and then selling for a profit at your buyback, it’s time to use Sell-Thru Booster.
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